Xpecting: 12 Weeks
by philefic
Summary: 'Xpecting' follows on from my previous novellas 'Pyrexia' and 'An Albatross around her Neck.' Both can be found on this site. Scully's pregnant, Mulder is figuring that out and a whole bunch of crazy Xfile stuff happens just to complicate things further. This is part one of a novel length fic. Thank you Xphilelove how would I do it without you x


Maggie Scully's day started out seemingly just like every other day. She woke when a morning sun ray broke through the crack in her curtain and made its way along her bed. When it hit her chin the gentle warmth woke her from her peaceful slumber. She stretched and smiled looking over at the clock sitting next to a gold border framing four beautiful red headed babies, her four beautiful red-headed babies. With curls and freckles and smiles brighter than the sun that was now lying across her pillow. She indulged in closing her eyes for a few brief moments, mentally marking off the few errands she had planned this morning before she was due at Dana's for lunch. First a warm shower. Then breakfast consisting of the beautiful fruit salad she had prepared the night before by cutting up some of the ripe summer produce she had purchased from the local market. She picked the best pieces and placed them in a separate bag to take to Dana's. Dana loved the fruit from that market but never seemed to have the time to make the trip to this side of town to buy it. In fact Dana seemed to have even less time than usual these days. This was probably the reason why she was so excited about seeing her today. They still called each other frequently, at least once a week but they hadn't seen each other in well over three months. She knew her daughter well, better than she suspected even Dana knew. Something was new with her daughter and she was hoping today she would finally tell her what it was.

Shower, breakfast, haircut, Danas, with a quick stop at the French patisserie to get some croissants for lunch, she mentally checked off her list. Looking back at the clock she realised time was short so she dragged the covers off herself and placed her feet inside fluffy, open toe slippers that were sitting just in the right position next to her bed. She inhaled the morning air and smiled again, it was going to be a perfect day. She padded her feet over to the bathroom flicking the light switch on as she passed the door frame. When the light didn't come on she spun around to flick it again and caught her toe on the edge of the vanity. "Ow!" She cursed out loud as the sting ran through her little piggy that ironically cried all the way home. She bent down and gripped it rubbing it between her thumb and forefinger, deciding that while it hurt like hell it was unlikely to be broken. The switch clicked hopelessly when she tested it a few more times just to be sure. The dull morning light from her small bathroom window was all that lit her path to the shower. Power cut, she concluded and wondered how long for. The drizzling cold water from her shower head answered that for her – all night, which meant no hot water. She grabbed her robe from the hook behind the door and wrapped it around her shoulders then limped out to the kitchen. As expected all appliances were off, which meant no coffee either. That's when she noticed the puddle in front of the fridge. She gasped thoughts of her beautiful fruit salad dry and warm ran through her head. She moved quickly to the refrigerator and yanked the door open. Luckily the fruit looked ok but the left-over chicken she was hoping to re-heat for dinner hadn't survived. "Dammit" she pulled out item after item her toe started to throb again at the sudden burst of energy to get to the fridge door. One by one she pulled out food items; the milk she supposed was still cold enough but wasn't going to survive much longer. Maybe she could take it to Dana's early, she thought. Then realised she wouldn't make it there and back before her hair appointment. She blew a thick strand of hair that had stubbornly fallen over her flew in the air under the force of her breath then landed in the exact same spot. Turns out this day wasn't going to work out as perfectly as she had envisioned. The phone was ringing forcing her to move quickly on her sore toe and slump ungraciously on the couch. She did her best to sound cheerful when she answered "Hello."

"Hi is this Margaret Scully?" The sprightly young woman on the other end of the line asked.

"Yes, speaking." Maggie rubbed her toe and considering it may be broken after all.

"Mrs Scully this is Roxanne form Hairspray I'm sorry but your stylist is sick today, I'm going to have to reschedule your appointment."

"What! But he is booked out weeks in advance, I'm sorry he is unwell but are you sure there isn't someone else who could perhaps do it instead?"

"Well our new intern Lexi is available."

"Lexi?"

"Yes Lexi Spark"

"Pardon? Did you say Lexi Spark?" The abrasive tone had returned to Maggie's voice.

"Yes mam" the receptionist answered cautiously.

"When is the next appointment with Rich?"

"Ummmmmmmmm."

Maggie could tell she was stalling; this wasn't going to be good.

"Let's see, would you like another Saturday appointment Mrs Scully?"

Maggie was impressed she was maintaining a professional manner while dealing with a particularly disgruntled customer. She knew she had probably been doing this since she had got to work that morning and hoped this hadn't been her first call. "Just tell me the next available…please love." She added politely.

"How does Saturday morning, same time, um four weeks from today sound?"

Maggie hung up. She pouted at her sore toe that was beginning to change colour. This was salvageable. She'd get dressed, clip back that annoying strand of fringe she was almost prepared to cut off herself and take her fruit while it was still edible to Dana's. It was after 8 now. By the time she got there she was sure her daughter would be at least in her own shower preparing for her day. She'd take some spare clothes and shower there too, a whole day with Dana was better anyway. Feeling optimistic again she went into her room and changed, deciding she'd satisfy her morning caffeine needs on the way.

Forty minutes later she was standing in front of Dana's door, the bag of fruit in one hand, bowl of cut fruit and hand-bag straining the other. She knocked with the knuckle of the hand holding the bag and painted a smile on her face. The few minutes she waited felt like hours with the weight in her arms. There were no footfalls behind the door and no tell-tale clicking of the locks being opened to spring the door free and reveal a long awaited mother daughter hug. She sighed exasperated, was anything going to go right this morning? Maybe she was in the shower, maybe she had gone for a run, maybe for the first time on this particular morning she had decided to sleep in. Maggie wasn't going to waste any more time. Her sore toe was jammed in her sneaker and the tips of her fingers were starting to go numb from the weight of the fruit in the bag. Carefully she lowered her things to the ground and fished around in her purse for her daughter's spare apartment key. Finding it easily she quietly opened the door.

The room was still in darkness, perhaps she was still asleep. She picked up her bags and bowl and wandered into the kitchen moving quietly so she didn't wake her. Placing the bags carefully down on the counter she moved back into the lounge pointing her ear in the direction of her bedroom. She couldn't hear anything, there was no shower running, no rustling around. Confused she starred down at her wrist watch it was after 9 since when did her little Dana Scully sleep in this long. Then she remembered her beautiful fruit salad weltering now on Dana's bench. She limped into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "You've got to be kidding me." She quickly put her hand over her mouth she had said that out loud. Sitting in the centre of the fridge was a bowl of freshly cut summer fruit. The bright colours, dew drops of sweet freshness and aromatic smell almost mocking her as she looked down in comparison at her own pungent shrivelling bowl. She slammed the fridge shut and that's when she heard it. A commotion from the bedroom, perhaps she had disturbed her, well it was about time she got up anyway. She started to walk down the hall. Dana's bedroom was in sight the door slightly ajar. The commotion she could hear was now a little confusing so she slowed her pace to concentrate on what she was hearing. Was someone bouncing on the bed, knocking on the wall? Very bizarre, she stopped in her tracks and tip-toed the last two paces to the door. Now standing directly behind it she pressed her ear springs of her daughter's bed were creaking and then that knocking, was that her headboard? Just as that frightening thought passed her mind a deep, throaty groan came from behind the door.

Maggie Scully took a quick step backward as if the door had suddenly caught fire. That was a man's voice! A man's voice in her daughter's bedroom. Then she realised she was lingering when what she really wanted was to be anywhere, anywhere at all except right here outside her daughter's bedroom listening to…. and that's when she heard her.

"Oh!"

No, this was not happening; the pace of the bouncing springs was increasing.

"Oh!"

That was Dana's voice. She turned from the door frantically starting to walk back down the hall.

"Oh! Oh!"

Her daughter's voice was getting louder, her cries getting closer together, she was, she was… No she didn't want to think about it, she just wanted to run. Leave as fast as she can, scrub her ears out and drink something so strong it may erase the memory of today out for good. She gathered her bags and bowl and flung her hand bag over her shoulder.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!"

"Oh please Dana stop." She pleaded silently as she reached the door and pulled it open.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh!"

Maggie slammed the door finally silencing that sound for good although she suspected she had heard the finale anyway, she shuddered at the thought and that subtle movement was enough to cause that strand of hair to fall from its clip back over her eyes. "I'm going back to bed."

####

Mulder pulled open Scully's fridge, he looked up and down at the packed shelves. He loved Scully's fridge it was so different to his, different in the sense that it always had food in it. The cold air brushed his bare abdomen making him scratch the small patch of hair in the centre of his chest. He was feeling rather satisfied, physically satisfied obviously but psychologically satisfied as well because he had brought her fruit, more specifically her favourite kind from her favourite market. He wasn't good at sentiment or saying the right things but food, he was good at food. He grabbed the bowl, stealing a fresh slice of melon and sucked on it as he walked back down to the bedroom, it was good. He smiled at how many relationship points this was going to earn him. When he got to the bedroom door he paused to look at the sight before his eyes. The bed cover and all four pillows were scattered around the floor. There were items of clothes hanging in all sorts of interesting places around the room. The sheets were ruffled and tangled amongst those sheets was Scully, she was lying face down, head turned, arms above her head framing her face. She was pretending to be asleep, she had to be pretending, she couldn't possibly have gone back to sleep. He took another piece of melon into his mouth placing the bowl on the table next to the bed. Then he crawled across the mattress until he was kneeling beside her. A broad smile lit up her face feeling the mattress shift under his weight. Her eyes stayed closed but he knew she was awake. He held the melon between his teeth and ran it across her neck letting the juices drip onto her neck and jaw. He knew she would smell it.

"mmmmm" she started to respond.

"mmmm" he answered taking the fruit into his mouth and then moving his juice moist lips down the length of her spine, kissing the space between each of her vertebrae as he went. When he reached her tattoo he circled it with his tongue and then something odd occurred to him making him sit up and swallow the piece of fruit. "Scully should you be lying on your stomach."

"Why wouldn't I be able to lie on my stomach?" She mumbled into the mattress.

"You know, your baby."

"Our baby."

"Yeah."

She rolled over and her naked jiggling breasts momentarily distracted him. He shook his mind back to the original thought.

"Mulder after what we just did, In….. How many different positions did you put me in?"

"It's been six weeks Scully."

"Well I'm sorry my violent gastric response to this little DNA mixture we have created has gotten in the way of your sex life."

"S,okay I forgive you." He mocked.

She hit his knee with the back of her hand "yes I can lie on my stomach. In fact I am going to lie on my stomach as often as I can while I still can. Speaking of stomachs, did you bring breakfast Mulder?"

"I'm so pleased you feel like eating in the morning again Scully because…." He drew out the last word as he stretched behind him too retrieve the bowl of fruit.

Her mouth gaped open at the delicious sight. "You brought me fruit." She lifted her head off the mattress just enough for him to waft the bowl under her nose.

"I brought you fruit." He announced proudly

"It looks delicious." She went to grab a piece and he slapped her hand away.

"Uh ah"

She pouted and lay her head back onto the mattress.

"Not only did I bring you fruit, but I brought it from that little market next to your mothers you love so much. Huh, is that impressive or what?"

"Well it maybe if you actually let me eat it."

He locked eyes with her taking a pink fleshed melon in between his teeth and lowered his mouth to her stomach. She kept her eyes on the fresh sweet morsel until a drip landed in her bellybutton and the cold flesh of the melon followed it. The sensation caused her to close her eyes and arch against the mattress. His tongue circled her naval then ran over her still flat abdomen allowing him to indulge in sweet ignorance for a little longer. Then he retrieved the melon with his teeth and took it back up her centre, along the middle of her stomach, in between her breasts then up the column of her neck, leaving a sticky line of juice in its path. When he reached her lips he slipped it between them letting her suck and then chew the tender piece of fruit.

"Mmmm very impressed." She said around her mouth full, "god I've missed food with flavour."

He smiled feeling very pleased with himself then reached over and grabbed a few pillows. She sat up and forward allowing him to place the pillows behind her and up against the headboard. She pulled the sheet up to cover herself and he gathered more pillows so he could sit up next to her. Then he grabbed the bowl of fruit and stabbed a strawberry with one of the forks he had brought as well. He fed it to her and watched, fascinated by the way her mouth skilfully removed the whole piece off the fork.

She chewed and swallowed smiling to let him know he had done well. "You know contrary to popular belief, pregnant woman still hold the ability to feed themselves." She eyed the second fork in his hand.

He could take a hint, so he handed it to her. They both dug in eating and enjoying in comfortable silence. "You know as much as I would love to sit here and let you feed me fruit all day, my mum is coming over for lunch."

"hmm." He sounded disappointed.

"I haven't seen her in months Mulder. She is going to think something is wrong."

"Are you going to tell her about your baby?"

"Our baby, no not yet, how can I? She doesn't even know I am seeing anyone. I'll tell her when the timing seems right."

"She isn't silly Scully and you can't hide it forever."

Their silent connection locked in stale mate when her phone beeped interrupting them. It was a text message. She reached over and retrieved the phone from the side of the bed then pushed a few buttons absorbing the content of the message, hoping he wouldn't ask.

"Who is it?"

Dammit! She shifted her attention between him and the phone nervously.

"It's him again isn't it Scully?"

She pushed a few more buttons and then placed it back on the bedside table. She smiled and then pierced another piece of fruit in the bowl content to carry on eating and pretend she hadn't heard him ask. He was watching her though. He wasn't going to let it go.

"It was Ethan, wasn't it?" He took her ignoring him as confirmation. "When are you going to tell this guy to take a hike Scully?"

"It's not that simple Mulder." She kept her voice calm the last thing she wanted to do was fight with him not after there long night of making up for lost time.

"Well it seems pretty simple to me Scully I mean you are pregnant for Christ sake. You are having a baby."

"*We* are having a baby."

He paused as if to consider. "Look if you don't tell this guy then… then"

"Then what? You'll tell him? You'll tell him what exactly? Huh?"

"Nothing"

"Exactly, I'm handling it. Trust me." She took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"This is getting complicated Scully." There was this really complex conversation they needed to have, there were these big plans they were supposed to be making and yet both of them tip-toed around it. Every time they got close to having 'the' conversation one of them backed down or changed the subject. She was twelve weeks now, her first scan was booked for first thing Monday morning and only one phrase was circling his sub-conscious – 'Shit just got real.' He decided he would be the one to let them off the hook this time, he bent down and whispered softly on her lips. "Ok, you know I trust you."

"Thank you." She cupped his cheeks with her hands. "We'll figure this out."

He nodded his face in her hands to reassure her but on the inside he hoped she had some form of plan because he was coming up blank.

She kissed him again "thank you for the fruit Mulder."

"You're welcome. Thank you for the workout Scully." He retreated to his sense of humour, that always got him out of a bad conversation.

She huffed at him. "Now as much as it pains me to kick you out of my bed. I really need to get ready before mum gets here."

"Naw just a little longer." He nipped at her lips.

She indulged herself for a few moments "Mmm tempting but no..go."

He continued kissing her and began moving his hand over her hip, "are you sure?"

"Go"

He pecked kisses on her lips, jaw, nose. "What about a shower?"

She pushed him softly with her hand to his chest "go."

He looked up at her and she smiled at him.

"Fine."

She watched as he crawled off the bed grabbing the sheet before he took that with him too and bunched it under her chin. He moved around the room collecting items of clothing as he went. Jeans were pulled over his boxers and then he slipped his shirt over his head ruffling his hair to make it look less bed hair like. He caught her watching him with a silly grin on her face as he was slipping his socks and shoes on without undoing the laces. Matching her grin he pocketed his keys and wallet from the table next to his side of the bed then bent over to kiss her lightly on the forehead. "Bye" he whispered, lingering.

"Bye." She replied and watched him leave her bedroom. When she heard in the distance the front door shut behind him she let her head fall back on to the head board with a thud. "Shit," she whispered to herself. Then banged it three more times, hard "shit, shit,shit." Reaching over she retrieved the phone and read the message again. 'I'll be over in 45 minutes. I won't take no for an answer this time Dana.' Dam reporter she thought to herself, he doesn't even shorten his text language. Ethan Minette had been her last relationship that she could put into the 'serious' category of past relationships. A T.V. reporter/producer meant he had the brains, speak, and suave combined with his boy next door looks - he was dangerous 'husband' material. There was a time where she had indulged in that fantasy, signed his last name next to hers. Just to see what it would look like. However like all men she seemed to become tangled with he had these 'authoritive' issues, he was a workaholic who would leave her sitting at a restaurant alone but somehow make her be the one to need to take him back. Most day's she hated she loved him and then there were the days she loved that she hated him and then there was the day he had just left. A job in New York apparently far more attractive than a mortgage, wife and children, which even though at that point in her life she hadn't really thought about that either she suddenly felt as though something had been taken she wasn't sure she had in the first place. Actually that pretty much summed up their entire relationship. Something that was but then always wasn't enough. He had left for New York the week after her first case with Mulder on the X-files, that thought gave her a bitter sweet taste inside her mouth. There was a discussion about trying a long distance relationship but two months into her new assignment she found her imaginary life with Ethan slip through her imaginary thoughts of how her life was supposed to pan out.

She threw the phone down on the bed next to her then placed a hand over her belly, smiling down at it. 'I'm pregnant' she had to remind herself every morning and that single thought was enough to drown out the noise. The metaphorical devil on her shoulder that said 'everyone's going to know who the father is, they are going to do something to mess this up, her job, The X files, her relationship with Mulder, their 'quest', where do they live, how will she explain it to her mother, her brothers, how would she explain it to the child…..' – Noise! She brushed that devil off her shoulder dashing out of bed and into the shower. Ethan would be there soon, she knew exactly what he wanted, she just needed to figure out how to tell him she couldn't give it to him. He had come back just six weeks ago. Right after she had got back from the cruise liner case and the same time she had discovered she was pregnant. She had ignored his calls and texts the first few weeks hoping he would think she had changed numbers. Then an assignment had taken her out of state for a week, that made it a little easier to ignore him until he called the office. Mulder had answered the phone, handing it to her thinking nothing of it until he couldn't help but over hear her end of the conversation. She tried to turn away from him, lower her voice but, "yeah it's nice to hear from you too…. Sorry I have been busy….. no I didn't get those calls…" caused his ears to prick up like a puppy who just heard the dog lead being taken off the wall. "I can't ….mmm hmmm…. More mm hmm's" and Mulder was standing in front of her making his presence well known and a burning curiosity on his face. "mm hmm she said looking at Mulder through narrowed eyes. "No I wish I could but we are on assignment all week." She had shaken her head at him when he went to call her on her lie and then politely hung up the phone. There was no avoiding telling him then and of course he had jumped straight to the defensive, she sat and listened to him rant nodding at the appropriate times and then subtly started removing clothing. She took her jacket, letting it catch on her elbows then slowly fall to the desk. Her shoes were next dropping to the floor with a clunk…..clunk. When the top two buttons of her blouse slipped through her fingers he suddenly became lost for words, completely forgetting what he was mad about. She had asked him if he was finished and ready to go home and they hadn't mentioned it again.

He had become good at pretending he wasn't listening to her brushing Ethan off when he called, or read and then discarded the phone when he text. This morning was the first time he had acknowledged it, finally challenging her to deal with it for good. She stood in front of her bathroom mirror, jeans and a simple sweater seemed the appropriate attire for brushing off your ex without revealing you are secretly in a relationship with your partner and best friend, carrying a baby you were never supposed to be able to conceive, that your mother doesn't know about who was also coming over later that day. If there is such attire appropriate for that scenario. She took a deep breath looking at her wrist watch, he was late. Well at least some things never change. She was sure he would have an excuse but she was also sure she wouldn't accept it this time. She looked up to contemplate her reflection, she was thankful that the colour had returned to her cheeks after weeks of vomiting. No make-up she decided and wet hair, she wasn't going to do her hair or should she? The knock on the door answered that for her. "Here goes." She said to her reflection.

Before she opened the door she peered through the peep hole. Just to confirm who it was or perhaps just to delay a few seconds longer. He was standing there in her hall, looking like the same guy who had knocked on her door all those years ago ready to break her heart. He rocked on his heals like a nervous prom date holding a single lily in his hand. The same flower he had brought her on their very first date. His intentions were confirmed with that single white flower. She rested her forehead on the peephole to prepare herself then swung open the door. "Ethan" she exhaled.

"Dana" He pulled her against him, wrapping an arm around her waist intimately and then kissing her on the cheek.

She felt awkward, like she wasn't sure where to put her hands. A pat on the back was the best she could do.

"You look good."

"Thanks" she replied, her voice suddenly squeaky. "So do you." Great so that was the cliché greeting over and done with now the awkward looking, smiling, nervous laugh….

"Here," he handed her the flower.

"Thanks," her chin dipped as she took it from him "a Lily Ethan?"

"Yeah well you know, I know how you love Lilies."

"Right." She watched the flower twirl in her fingers. Actually Lilies made her sneeze but he never gave her the chance to tell him that. "Come in" she stood aside letting him pass, "please sit down." She gestured towards the couch and then she spotted Mulder's jacket lying over the back of the chair. "Over here." She changed the direction of her hand to her table to avoid him spotting the jacket. He spun towards the couch and then back to the table taking a seat in one of her chairs. "Would you like a drink?" The sight of him sitting at her table made her stomach flip. Three days was the longest she had gone without vomiting and the thought of her next conversation with this man made her feel like her breakfast might just come back on her. She swallowed a mouthful of air and made her way into the kitchen before he could answer.

"Anything cold will be fine," he called after her. She grabbed a jug of iced tea from the refrigerator and two glasses from the cupboard then returned to join him at the table. "Your place looks good." He looked around the room casually as she filled the glasses. She didn't respond. She really wasn't interested in small talk. "Thank you" he mouthed as she passed him his glass. She took a small sip from her glass watching him nervously gulp down his. His nervousness gave her a new found confidence, a sense she held the upper hand here. So she decided to 'cut to the chase.'

"What are you doing here Ethan?"

He choked a little on his ice tea "I came to see you." He put his hand over hers on the table and she pulled it away from him. The glimmer of hope in his eye began to fade as he returned his hand to his glass.

"So are you back?"

"Yes." He looked to his glass for courage. "I'm working for channel five news here in Washington."

"Great." She lied

"Remember Jimmy Cross? You know the goofy guy I worked here with before New York?"

The name was vaguely familiar to her. "Yeah"

"He is running that place now!"

The look on his face she gathered meant this was supposed to be shocking to her.

"He is married, actually he and his wife just had a baby. Funny when you see people from your past married, happy, when you never pictured them as the type to settle down." He glanced at her wedding ring finger with that statement. "Anyway I'm working under him mostly in an investigatory role but I'm doing some reporting in front of the camera also."

"Ah yes I saw you cover the museum piece last week." She tried to divert the conversation. "It was good Ethan. Sounds like things are heading in the right direction for you."

"Maybe." He spoke quietly into his iced tea. A long silence followed. "You know Dana before New York. Back when we were together I guess I saw myself as one of those guys who would never settle down." He paused in his speech making her wonder if he was trying to remember the next line in a pre-prepared script. She squared her shoulders and didn't give him the satisfaction of an answer. Did he really expect her to wait for him to come crawling back like this, after all this time. "I guess I thought you were one of those people who didn't want to settle down either."

Was he actually blaming her, for the way things ended she thought to herself and bit her lower lip in a subconscious attempt to avoid saying something she may regret before he could finish.

"The thing is Dana I realise now that maybe there is more to life than a career and status. That at the end of the day work is no fun when you can't come home to someone and talk about your day. You push yourself just like I do to be the best at your job, move forward in your career but Dana don't you sometimes wish you could take back some decisions maybe see what life would be like if you made a different choice?"

His words floored her for a second. He had actually walked through her door and in the twenty minutes he had been there had her current life summed up. He could see with the renovations, new furniture and art in her apartment that she had some success in her career. Looking at her wedding ring finger he had decided she was alone and being on her own on a Sunday dressed in her casual clothes meant she must be lonely. Ok She was starting to lose control of her tongue but he continued, silencing her again.

"I know it has been a long time but the truth is I miss you Dana, I want you back." His eyes glassed over with sincerity, he had looked at her before this way and this sudden familiarity caused memories of her past to play out in front of her.

"Ethan" She breathed out and then a firm knock on the door caused them both to jump back in their seats. She looked down at her wrist watch realising his lateness had meant his visit had merged with her Mothers. "Ethan, that will be my mom, we had planned to meet for lunch."

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have barged in here like this. I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch with your mom it's just..." The knock on the door repeated itself shifting both of their attention towards it.

"I really should get that." She stood and walked towards the door. He followed closely behind her. "Mom" She cheered as she opened the door, so grateful for the interruption.

"Dana" the two women embraced each other like only mother and daughter can "is that Ethan?" she asked as he appeared from around the door.

"Hi Mrs Scully." He gave her a polite hug.

Maggie looked back and forth between the pair both looking like they had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Well at least she could put a face to the noises that came from behind Dana's bedroom door this morning. There was a pregnant pause in the conversation. Scully was looking at her feet, Ethan was looking expectantly at Scully and Maggie looked at them both in turn. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No that's ok Mom Ethan was just leaving."

"Yes I was, well it was really nice to see you again Mrs Scully."

"You too Ethan, are you in town for long?"

"Yes actually I have moved back."

"Really…" She looked to Dana who seemed preoccupied with something on her feet.

"Well maybe you could come for tea sometime"

He smiled sweetly at her "Do you still make that amazing chicken casserole?"

"Gosh I haven't made that in years." Maggie blushed "I'll make it especially for you." She grabbed his elbow affectionately looking back at Dana who was still staring at the floor.

"Bye Dana" he leant down and kissed the corner of her mouth lingering just long enough to let her know he wasn't finished with her yet.

"Good bye Ethan." She finally spoke.

Maggie replaced his spot inside the apartment as he slipped around the frame of the door and left. When Scully closed the door behind him she could feel the curiosity of her mother's stare on her back, she turned to face her head on. "Please don't ask me mother," she didn't want to explain anything to her, more to the point she didn't want to have to lie. She retrieved Ethan's glass from the table and went back to the kitchen to fetch her mother a clean one. When she walked back into the lounge Maggie was pulling Mulder's jacket from off the back of the couch. Scully took it from her "It's Mulders" she explained taking it from her and placing it over the back of a dining chair.

"How is Fox?" her face lit up at the mention of Mulder's name.

"Good." Her voice was doing that squeaky thing again. "Mom you're limping, what have you done?" She gestured for her mum to sit on the couch.

"Argh the power is out in my apartment, I kicked it on the bathroom sink this morning." She sat down and lifted her sore toe up onto the couch.

Scully crouched down and started to remove her shoe and sock. "Have you had it looked at?"

"No, I'm sure it's just bruised. Ow don't poke it Dana!"

Scully moved the small toe around gently, frowning at her mother "It looks broken mom."

"I'm sure it's fine Dana" She took her foot from her daughter's prodding hands and put it back on the floor.

Scully got up from the couch and walked back into the kitchen "I'm getting you some ice, the least I can do is strap it for you."

"Whatever you think dear." She took the ice from Scully's hand and rested it on top of her foot.

"Did you bring the croissants?"

"No"

"Did you get your hair done?"

"No."

"Is everything ok mom?"

"Now that you mention it, I would really love a warm shower." She sighed feeling emotionally and physically drained.

"Sure." Scully got up from the chair "I'll get you a towel and while you're in there I'll get us some lunch."

"That sounds lovely Dana." She took the towel from her "Thank you honey." She kissed her on the cheek and headed to the bathroom.

Maggie Scully emerged from the bathroom, a sweet smell of Dana's combined bath oils and shampoo followed her out the door. Clean hair and a fresh pair of clothes and her optimism about the day was starting to return. Coming out of the bathroom she stole a glance at Dana's bedroom not really knowing what she expected to see after the performance she had heard earlier that day but her curiosity got the better of her. The curtains were open, the bed was made, the linen was tucked with perfect corners. Her pillows were plumped and plush, her floor immaculate she revoked herself. What did she expect she would see anyway? She made her way back down to the living room finally feeling extremely relaxed, Dana had an expansive spread laid out for lunch. Ranging from rolls to salads and of course that delicious fruit she had spotted earlier. "Looks good honey". Then she noticed Dana had tape in her hand. "It's fine Dana, honestly."

"Humour me, you paid to put me through medical school, the least you can do is let me strap your broken toe."

Maggie had to admit having the toe strapped made it feel a whole lot better. Both were hungry and the meal on the table disappeared rapidly. The conversation was set as usual around the Scully family members. How the boys were doing and the many antics of her nieces and nephews and Dana voiced her regret around not seeing them as often as she would like. The topic of thanks giving plans came up and that's where Maggie decided to throw it out there, take a chance Dana might offer the information willingly. "So Dana."

Scully could smell a rat. "So mom."

"Ethan's back."

"Apparently so." She watched the teaspoon she was circling in her ginger tea.

"Has he been back long?" Maggie sipped on her coffee.

"Yeah a while."

"and you two are …"

Scully looked up from her cup interrupting her midsentence "Mom I really don't want to talk about it." She was having trouble meeting her eye. She hated lying to her, she could do it easily when it came to work but this was her grandchild, she so desperately wanted to tell her. Every woman has this vision of how she tells her mum she is going to have a baby. This feeling of giving them the ultimate gift and the perceived joy it will bring them. She knew her mother would be overjoyed she had seen it before when her sister in laws had broken the news of their pregnancies, coming from her own daughter would be even more special. Her heart started to pound in her ears as her nerves kicked it. She wanted to tell her, she REALLY wanted to tell her, besides Mulder she had told no-one and he was above all shocked at the news and she was still giving him the time and space to absorb it all and decide how he felt about being a father. She knew her mom would be excited and she wanted someone to be excited with her. Her palms were sweaty her eyes were filling with tears, she cursed her hormones; it was biology making her do this.

"Dana?" Her mother's voice broke her thoughts. She grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed it. "Dana, what's wrong honey?"

She finally looked up and met her mother's concerned face. "I want to tell you something mom. I NEED to tell you something." She quickly swiped a tear with her free hand before it hit her cheek. "You are going to have a lot of questions and I want you to know the answers but I just. I can't give you them today."

Maggie was scared now, she took Dana's other hand in hers "Dana I'm your mother you can tell me anything you know that honey, what's wrong? Are you sick?"

Scully realised she had scared her mother far too many times and at this point her cryptic words were causing her unnecessary grief. She felt terrible "No Mom," she gripped her hands and smiled at her with another tear in her eye. "This time it's good news, actually it's really good news." She bit her lip still smiling. Maggie was just looking plain confused. "Mom." She paused to gain dramatic effect "I'm having a baby." She laughed out once and that tear stained her cheek. The relief from those four little words was enormous and real and her mother was gapping her mouth, unable to speak.

"But Dana?"

"I know, I know it shouldn't be but it is, I'm pregnant mom. I'm pregnant!" She repeated louder.

"Oh my goodness!" Maggie threw her arms around Scully's neck "Oh my goodness." She repeated into her daughter's hair. Scully cried and laughed at the same time. They pulled back from their embrace, Maggie's hands were covering her mouth "oh my goodness" she smiled. "I wondered why you were drinking that awful tea."

Scully scrunched her nose at the ginger tea. It was the only thing that settled her stomach. Bless her mother - who is the father? You aren't married? Where are you going to put a baby in your career? These were the questions she was afraid of and she suspected her mother knew it and had purposely commented on the tea instead, releasing her of having to answer those difficult questions. She grabbed her mother's hands and squeezed them tightly, a silent thank you for not asking her.

Maggie was quiet as she absorbed the information, she was curious, of course she was. She inhaled and exhaled, she knew Dana would tell her when she was ready. In spite of her intense curiosity and concern for her daughter she was above all very happy for her and the pure joy radiating from her was enough to allow her to leave it alone, for now. "So how bad is the morning sickness?"

Scully's shoulders lightened instantly "oh awful, why do they call it morning sickness when it lasts all day?"

"I was like that."

"Meat, looking at meat, the smell of meat anything to do with meat and my stomach would lurch."

Maggie was nodding and smiling "you must be having a boy. I was just like that with the boys. With you and Melissa it was perfume, your father couldn't wear aftershave for three months. I even made him wait until he got in the car before he put his under arm spray on." They laughed together "then at three months I woke up one morning and it was completely gone."

Scully was nodding "I woke up three days ago feeling really good and haven't vomited since." She breathed out with relief "it is so good to talk about this with you. A boy, you really think so?" she placed a hand over her belly.

Scully hugged her mum even tighter than before as she wished her farewell at the door. When she closed the door behind her she leant her back against it and breathed out. Her mum had cleaned up the dishes and fussed around the apartment, not that there was much to do but she appreciated how her mum wanted to take care of her in light of her present "condition" despite hobbling around she insisted and Scully sat back thinking how happy she looked being able to do it for her. After a very busy, emotional morning and not much sleep that night fatigue suddenly hit her and she decided she had earned herself the right to have an afternoon nap and that's when she looked down and spotted the Lily Ethan had given her, a single lily was said to be able to warn off unwanted guests. How Ironic was that? It had fallen from the table onto the floor, she decided that was the best place for it and left it there, grabbed her book from beside the couch and headed for her bedroom.

She was sitting on a beach. She knew she was dreaming when the starfish at her foot told her to answer the door. There was a knocking drawing her back to the surface of consciousness. It was firm, constant and repetitive, it demanded attention. "You better get that" the starfish said. She snapped her eyes open into a dark room and wondered how long she had been out. Her book fell of her chest as she leant over to grab her clock and bring it in front of her face. It was 7pm, she had slept through dinner. There was that knocking again, she better get up and answer it. She scuffed her feet down the hall quickly, her hair was ruffled, her clothes were creased and she still hadn't put any make-up on. She really hoped it was no-one important. When she reached the door she took another cursory glance through the peep hole. Her face lit up at the distorted magnified vision she saw. Another man, another flower but this one had a key. She turned the lock and opened the door slowly tilting her head at him as she came into his view.

"I left my jacket here." He said innocently.

"You did, I would've brought it with me to the office in the morning."

He nodded seriously "You could have." He was still standing on the wrong side of the door and she was still standing in the way. "It's awfully heavy though, I thought I would save you the hassle."

"How considerate of you" she was teasing him. A long silence followed and he rocked back and forward on his heels. She decided to let him off the hook. "Fruit and now flowers Mulder?"

He looked down at the flower in his hand like he forgot he was carrying it.

"That's a tuberose flower." She offered. "A tuberose is a symbol for both dangerous and forbidden pleasures." She raised an eyebrow and lifted her line of sight from the flower to his.

Of course he knew that, he had picked it out especially. He was more than impressed that she knew that too. "Well Scully you better have a word with that little old lady in number three because she just stopped me in the hall and gave it to me."

Scully huffed out a half laugh "well let me get you your jacket so you can go knock on her door, sounds like you might get lucky". She went to close the door and he stuck his foot in the way right before it hit the frame making it bounce to fully open again. She was standing there behind it with a little grin on her face and beautiful hair and freckles and full lips and rosy cheeks and … he needed to get in that door. He stepped in towards her, her chin raised slowly as he came closer and she made no attempt to step back. He kicked the door closed behind him pausing mere millimetres from her- face to face, iris to iris, both wearing a tight lipped smile. He pulled the flower to her temple and then drew it down her face, over her jaw, down her throat, then back up again tucking it neatly behind her ear. She remained stoic resisting his advances the best she could.

"This flower reminded me of you." His voice was low and sexy.

"Hmmm because it's red?"

His head moved side to side negatively almost imperceptibly "uh ah."

Their eyes closed in unison as their lips met, the kiss was slow and lazy at first but soon hit ardour territory. He ran his hands firmly down her back gripping her bottom and pressing her pelvis firmly against his. A sharp knock at the door caught them off guard and they separated abruptly. "Who now?" Scully muttered moving around Mulder to peer through the peep hole. "It's mom" she mouthed at him pulling the flower from her ear and handing it back to him. He retreated behind the door as she opened it in a pathetic attempt to hide. "Mom."

She was holding a small round casserole dish. "I can't stay Mrs Gen invited me to her place for dinner, my power is still out and this was just going to go to waste I thought you might like it?" she pushed it towards her.

"Thanks" Scully took it from her placing it down on the table next to the door; her mother was still standing there expectantly. Did she want to come in?

Mulder held his fingers over his lips waiting to see how this panned out. He didn't need to hide from Maggie, she knew they kept odd hours, but he just had his hands on her daughter's arse and that made him feel a little guilty. Just a little.

"Um lucky I haven't eaten yet, I better get it in the oven."

Maggie nodded. "Good idea" she gushed "I so enjoyed seeing you today. I'm so happy for you, you couldn't slap the smile off my face."

"I know Mom, it was good to see you too."

Mulders ears pricked 'happy for you?' How much did she reveal?

There was an uncomfortable silence and a few smiles and touches. "I'm going to leave you to your dinner." Maggie leaned in and kissed her goodbye.

"Thanks Mom I promise I'll call you tomorrow, after the scan."

"Okay honey"

"Okay" she was smiling awkwardly at her mum and watching Mulder smirking out of the corner of her eye.

"Bye Dana"

"Bye mom"

She pushed the door slowly closed as her mother retreated down the hall. Mulder stood smug behind it. "You told her."

"I did. God she almost caught us"

"She did." He swooped back into her.

"How embarrassing would that have been?"

He laughed as he kissed her again, placing his hands back to her upper thighs lifting her in the process.

She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist; her arms went around his neck, pecking at his lips as she spoke "I think she thinks the baby is Ethan's." She said in between kisses.

He stopped dead in his tracks, pulling away from her mouth "why would she think that?"

Scully was a little breathless and suddenly felt very weird having this relatively serious conversation with her legs wrapped tightly around him and his hands grasping her behind. "He was here when she arrived." She replied 'matter of factly'

"Not something I want to hear at this point Scully."

She touched her nose to his "are you jealous Mulder?" She breathed seductively, boring her eyes deeply into his. "Do you honestly think he holds even the slightest advantage over you?" She pushed herself further against him. His grasp on her buttocks tightened conceding without speaking. His tongue found its way back to her lips 'poor bastard' he thought, starting to walk again.

He was carrying her towards her bed. Still kissing him she opened her eyes to orientate herself and Ethan's lily on the floor caught her eye. They were walking towards it she noticed and then it squished beneath the sole of Mulder's shoe ceremoniously. She closed her eyes again and concentrated on loving him. The flower he had brought her was still in his hand pressed against the small of her back. Dangerous and forbidden pleasure indeed, he was about to show her both.

The shrill of his cell phone pulled Mulder out of a very deep sleep. He drew a sharp breath through his nostrils and pinched his eyes so he could see the clock. It was 3.30 am, his phone was still ringing and there wasn't even a stir from his partner lying next to him. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and began rummaging through his pile of discarded clothes, finding his phone in the front pocket of his jeans. He rested his elbows on his knees, one hand pulled the phone to his ear the other pressed a finger and thumb against his sleepy eyelids. "Mulder," he tried not to speak loudly and wake her.

Scully lifted up off the pillow, opening a single eye just enough so she could make out the time on the clock. She threw her head back against it in disgust and then stretched her neck side to side spotting Mulder sitting on the edge of the bed, shoulders slummed forward and toned muscles tense. She heard fear in his voice. Her instincts to comfort him took over and she rolled to her side so she could reach out to stroke her palm softly across his back. His skin was warm and sleepy soft against her fingertips. She listened carefully to his side of the conversation the best that she could as her nails scraped softly along the top of the elastic band of his white boxer shorts.

"Yes. How long? Uh Huh, Yes." His head turned to look over his shoulder at her but his face read nothing but complete seriousness. Their eyes met and she knew she wasn't going to like what he had to say when this call was over. "Ok. I'll inform my partner, we can be there in forty minutes." He disconnected the call and lay back against the mattress. His head landed where she was folded in the middle, right in front of her stomach.

She traced a finger over his chest through the small patch of hair there. "Inform me what?" He was staring straight at the roof, the concern that emitted from his tense body language unnerved her.

"That was the secretary of the commissioner of police."

Her hand flattened on his chest with surprise "Why is he calling you?"

"The commissioner's thirteen year old daughter was abducted from her bedroom window tonight. He has requested our assistance in finding her." He covered her hand with his on his chest and rolled his head to face her.

"Why us, are there some unusual circumstances he wants us to look into?" her brow creased.

He shook his head, shifting his attention to his fingers that were now tracing circles around the top of her hand. "The commissioner knew me back when I was working violent crimes. I think he just wants someone on the case he can trust. A ransom has already been called in so they want us there before the press catches a wif and the shit hits the proverbial pad and paper. So far we are the only other law enforcement agents on this, I suspect by sunrise the place will be swarmed with cameras and press." He looked back up at her, the air turning thick between them. They both knew the reality of a case like this was an emotional rollercoaster and high personal toll. Neither was brave enough to put their collective thoughts into words. Instead he picked her hand up off his chest and kissed her palm. "You better get that beautiful behind of yours out of bed Agent Scully. I said we'd be there in forty minutes." He swung his legs in the air pulling himself to a standing position and then headed into her bathroom. She watched him as he moved across the room, when he shut the bathroom door she felt her heart skip a beat. He was deflecting again, avoiding the hurt something like this always surfaced for him.

Forty minutes later, after a quick stop at Mulders apartment for a new suit, they were driving up to the very big security gates of Henry Mob, the current Police Commissioner (PC) of the city. A large security officer was approaching the driver's side of their slow moving vehicle, they chanced a glance at one another. "This place is like fort Knox." She said implying how on earth someone managed to break this security and remove the child without setting off alarms. The 'wir' of his window going down drew her attention.

"You folks F.B.I?" the security guard's head peered through Mulder's window. They both intuitively pulled their badges and held them towards him. He studied them and then their faces and then back to the badges and nodded. The large gates creaked on old hinges and slowly opened. Mulder and Scully stole another glance at each other before he slowly put his foot down advancing the car down the long drive way. Approaching a crime scene usually meant red tape, armed police officers a few press and gathering bystanders. The absence of all of this left an airy feeling to the scene and the silence seemed to amplify the sound of the gravel crunching beneath their tyres. There was just a single porch light on at the door. Mulder pulled up to the curb alongside the house. Neither spoke as he put the car in park, they opened their doors and climbed the few steps to the front door, stealing one last silent glance before he lifted and dropped the large brass knocker a few times.

Henry himself opened the door to them "Fox Mulder." He put a firm hand in Mulders direction. The pain was obvious behind his stoic gesture of affection. Mulder took his hand and shook it firmly.

"It's nice to see you again." He smiled warmly at his old friend. They shook hands and nodded heads and avoided saying anything emotional. "Aah this is my partner Agent Dana Scully."

Henry's eyes moved to Scully, he held his hand out to her too. "Agent Scully, I apologise for getting you out of bed at this hour."

"Under the circumstances Sir it is the least that we could do." She smiled at him warmly. He returned the warm smile then retreated inside his home encouraging them to follow. Scully followed Mulder into the foyer pausing to glance at the many frames that hung from the walls. There were family portraits, a picture taken through each year of this girl's life time. There were certificates from the police academy and then pictures drawn from a childs hand in crayon of people and houses with big green trees and sunshine rays that almost touched the ground.

"She was eight when she drew that one." A female voice approached her from behind.

Scully turned to see a woman in a robe clutching it closed at the waist, her eyes and nose red and swollen from shedding too many tears. "Mrs Mob." Scully assumed. The woman looked passed her at the picture framed on the wall.

"She hated us leaving those pictures up" She sobbed and laughed at the same time. "She said it was 'so embarrassing' in front of her friends." She imitated a rebellious teenage attitude then pulled a much worn tissue from the pocket of her large dressing gown and rubbed her raw nose.

Scully nodded sympathetically, she knew there was little you could say to ease the pain in these circumstances, often listening in silence offered more comfort than trying to convince them they would find their loved one unharmed. "I'm Agent Scully," she pulled a clean tissue from her coat pocket and handed it to her. "Dana."

"Thank you." She took the tissue and blew her nose. "Do you have children Agent Scully?"

"No ma'am" Scully looked at the floor unable to meet the desperate woman's stare. She sensed she was seeking the guidance of another mother and was disappointed she hadn't found it in Scully. She lifted her head and straightened her spine trying to portray confidence. "But I have worked in many abduction cases and I can reassure you we will do everything in our power to get you your little girl back."

The woman smiled at her "Sarah, her name is Sarah."

"Sarah." Scully confirmed "We will do everything we can ma'am"

"Meredith,"

"Hi Meredith."

"Would you like some tea Agent Scully?"

She really didn't but knew that Meredith needed to keep busy. "That would be lovely, thank you."

Meredith turned and walked away, shoulders slumped with complete defeat.

Scully turned a corner at the end of the foyer and entered a large office. Mulder had discarded his jacket and rolled the sleeves of his shirt up. He was with the PC and two other official looking men. He looked up and spotted her. "Come and listen to this Scully."

She crossed the room, the click of her heels highlighting the fact she was, as usual, the only 'official' female law agent in the room. Mulder was standing in front of an answering machine. His finger hit a button and the tape whirred as it rewound on itself. Scully pulled up beside him closely he was wearing a pair of large old fashioned headphones. Pulling her against him he pulled the head phone out indicating he wanted her to listen with him. A synthesised voice filled the space between her and Mulder's ears, there was a child's voice in the background crying out, shaking and scared "We have your daughter. She will not be harmed if you pay 5 million dollars by 0500 hours tomorrow morning. The account details have been left in the girl's room. You have 29 hours. No tricks and you'll get her back unharmed."

The fine hair on the back of Scully's neck stood on end as she moved away from Mulder and the headphones. "Have we got any prints from the room?" Mulder looked at the PC to answer for him.

"No-one has been near the room." He said

Scully swallowed nervously, what the hell were they mucking around at.

"I wanted Mulder to look at this first."

Mulder felt her look at him, expecting him to offer an explanation. He ran his tongue along his teeth instead. Deliberately not looking at her or offering her one.

"With all due respect Mr Mob, Sir, we need to get a forensic team in that room as soon as possible."

Mulder still didn't look at her, which was extremely frustrating. She was right, he knew it and she could really do with his support.

"Thank you Agent Scully will you arrange that for us now. I just know as soon as the order is made the press will start arriving. I just wanted Agent Mulder and my own men here to look over this first." Scully looked at Mulder who looked up over the room. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled the number for the forensics team.

Three hours later and a more familiar scene was set around the Mob home. Many police officers patrolled the grounds. There was thick "Do not Cross" police tape across doors and entrance ways. There were police dogs and armed officers in suits. Mulder and Scully ducked under the police tape to exit the front door. Their car had been moved to outside the house gate to accommodate for the increasing foot traffic around the property. That meant they had to leave through the gate on foot and as they drew closer they could see the crowd of media pushing forward to get a glimpse or shot of the house and many law officers roaming the property. As she approached the gate a familiar face appeared at the front of the crowd.

"Shit." She turned thinking she could just walk back to the house, but actually had no choice but to keep walking forward. Mulder noticed her sudden change in direction and looked out into the crowd at the face she had recognised.

"Dana." A tidy looking dark headed man in the crowd called. He wore a news press badge. "Dana, over here," he called again waving at them. Mulder looked at Scully questioningly but she marched forward, not answering him. The security guard opened the gate for them and provided a safe passage through the bustling crowd. Microphones were pushed into their faces, multiple people fired multiple questions.

"Has there been a call demanding ransom?"

"No comment."

"Do you have any suspects?"

"No comment."

"Was she harmed in anyway?" "Does this have anything to do with the commissioner's statement regarding the new laws around teen abortion?"

That one caught Mulders attention for a brief second before he replied "No comment."

The reporter had moved away from the crowd and away from his camera crew. They approached him together "Dana." He bent down and kissed her cheek.

"Ethan." She greeted him shyly. "Ah this is my partner…"

"Fox Mulder," Ethan finished for her as he stretched his hand out and shook Mulder's eagerly. "Nice to finally meet you, I followed you off and on in my career. You have quite the reputation in the journalism world, particularly how you have alluded talking to us about your many spooky theories. There are people in the industry that would pay good money for an interview with you."

Scully was surprised and rather amused to see Ethan practically drooling over the prospect of an interview with Mulder.

"Spooky theories?" Mulder looked at Scully then back to Ethan's eager face.

"So you've been taking care of my little Dana all these years?"

Did he just say that? Because that just tickled Mulder deliciously, Scully could sense it too.

"Well *my* Dana is pretty good at looking after herself, but I think it's safe to say Dana is satisfied with how we take care of each other."

Ethan's expression froze momentarily, so did Scully's Mulder on the other hand was un-phased.

"Huh." Ethan dropped his hand from Mulder's, suddenly uncomfortable at the way he was looking at him and how firm he had held his hand. He returned his attention to Dana who looked a little flushed. "Dana, I was wondering if I might have a word?"

"We really are quite busy Ethan, I can't comment on the case at this point."

"No not about the case, I meant ah." Why was Mulder looking at him like that? "I meant perhaps we could grab a coffee?" His primitive male instincts kicked into overdrive. This Mulder guy was taller than he expected, why had he just noticed this. He straightened to increase his height "Sorry about that Fox I don't mean to steal her away, it's just Dana and I have some catching up to do." He chuckled.

"Ethan was it?"

He nodded

"I'm not concerned about you stealing her anywhere?" He walked over to the car and settled into the driver seat.

Scully started to follow him but Ethan caught her elbow as she passed and swung her around to face him. "I need to talk to you."

Scully pulled her elbow from his grasp briskly; her eyes twinkled with rage at him. "A thirteen year old girl is missing Ethan. I have been up since 3am. I'm hungry, I'm tired and I have 29." She paused to look at her wrist watch, "make that 26 hours to bring her home. I heard you yesterday, I'm flattered Ethan but it's been six years, it's done, we are done. I've moved on, so should you." She turned her back to him and stormed toward the car.

He stood shocked, hand reaching desperately out to her. "I'm not done yet Dana."

Mulder was starting the car when she opened the door and climbed into the passenger side, ignoring him, she slammed the door and he pulled away from the curb.

"You ok?"

"Fine." She pulled a large bottle of water from below her seat and looked at it thoughtfully.

Mulder couldn't help but notice the size of the bottle "thirsty Scully?"

She shot him a side glance. "My Scan is at 9, I need a full bladder. I should probably re-schedule though, we don't have much time." She placed the bottle back at her feet.

"No don't reschedule, you don't want to miss your baby's first photo shoot."

"Our baby." She lowered her voice and chin, his disconnection from this pregnancy was starting to hurt. She was giving him space, she knew from her medical background that a mother becomes a mother the moment she becomes pregnant. But often a man didn't truly connect to the child until he held it in his arms. This man never expected to hold a child of his own not one that belonged to them anyway and she was starting to question how he felt about that now.

He looked to the road then to her and back again a few times noting the hurt in her eyes and inability to look over at him. A thick silence started to fill the car, "I can cover us for an hour. You know I want to be there." He shifted his hand from the gear stick to cover hers clutched in her lap. She looked over her expression read 'you do?' but she didn't say the words. He continued to look from the road to her, "call your mom. I'm sure she wouldn't mind coming with you. I'm warning you though Scully you better hope the kid has your nose."

She tilted her head questioning that odd remark?

"Your mum, like most, will spot a Mulder nose a mile away."

Her mouth curved into a bright lightning bolt smile. He was using humour to deflect again, but for the first time he spoke of the baby like it was his and she would take it, she would take it for what it was and hold onto it with everything she had. She leant down to grab the bottle of water again. "Ok I'll call mum. It shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes. Forensics should be finished with the room soon, the audio for the ransom and the note left in the girl's room have been sent to the bureau lab. We have agents looking over the security footage and grounds to see how this guy got past the security system. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to the commissioner's office, talk to a few of his colleagues, have a look over his desk. He gave me the only key to his office, he won't allow anyone else near it."

"This guy is really putting a lot of faith in you Mulder." She said cracking the lid on her water.

Mulder looked out of his window and then back out along the road. "He has helped me out in the past, I guess you could say he knows I may feel a personal connection to this case. And I owe him a favour or two." He smiled at her.

She knew Samantha speak when she heard it; she also knew he didn't appreciate her asking him to elaborate when he spoke cryptic 'Samantha speak.' She flicked the lid off the bottle of water and started taking long swallows. Her mother was overjoyed to accompany her to the scan and they planned to meet at her apartment first. As he turned into her street she was starting to feel the effects of an over full bladder. He drove over a curb causing the car to jolt and the hold on her bladder was challenged. She sucked in her breath and slammed her legs firmly together.

Mulder noted her sudden discomfort. "Everything all right?"

"Yip, fine." She was talking in the high pitched voice unaware she was also holding her breath as if that would help her hold her bladder. Mulder eyed up another pot hole aimed the wheel straight towards it. The car jolted again. "Jesus Mulder?"

He laughed "what?"

As if he didn't know. "Could you avoid the pot –holes please?" She crossed her legs uncomfortably, sucking in another breath along with her pelvic floor muscles.

A speed bump was coming up in the road. Mulder slowed down but devilishly wanted to speed up, just to see what would happen. The car jumped up then down over the bump.

"Seriously Mulder!"

"I can't avoid the speed bumps Scully." He laughed.

"Well I hope your car insurance covers cleaning upholstery." She was joking but her face was dead serious. He couldn't help but laugh again. He pulled up alongside her apartment complex. She gathered her jacket and bag and opened the door carefully pulling herself out while trying to keep her legs together. She shot him a mock smile, he was still laughing at her. "Well I'm glad you think this is so funny."

He stopped laughing and dropped his bottom lip at her. "Bring me back a picture; I'll see you in an hour." She shut the door behind her and then climbed the stairs to her apartment.. . . one at a time. . . very slowly.

Even though this hospital bed was small and too firm, lying flat had sure taken some of the pressure off her full bladder. Her blue checked hospital gown was 'ones size fits all' too big. Her mother and the sonographer had left her alone so she could privately slip into the gown and she now lay flat with a thin blanket up over her waist. She couldn't decide whether she should raise the gown above her belly yet or not. The sleeve of the oversized gown slipped off her right shoulder, she pulled it up then the left side slipped down and she retrieved that one too. It's possible she could just be a little nervous about this. The overzealous sonographer entered the room breaking her nerves briefly.

"Dana Scully?" She looked at Scully and smiled.

"That's me."

"How are we feeling today?"

"I could really use a bathroom break.""

She laughed, like she hadn't heard that one before. "Are we waiting for Daddy to arrive?"

Maggie Scully was approaching the closed curtain when she heard the question, pausing before making her presence known. She pressed her ear to the curtain.

"Ah no, he is tied up with the commissioners daughters kidnapping." Scully answered.

Well that was half the city, Maggie thought to herself and pulled back the curtain.

"Oh yes I heard about that on the news I sure hope they find her soon."

"Mom." Scully's face lit up, it really was helping her nerves having her mom here.

The sonographer was now settled in a stool at her giant ultra sound machine that looked like it could satellite navigate a small space station. The large screen was turned so all three woman could see it clearly. A blank screen started to fill with medical abbreviations as the sonographer tapped in Scully's details. Name, date of birth, last menstruation and expected date of delivery. She hadn't seen that number before and seeing it for the first time was making her heart start to race. That was just six months away, that didn't seem that far away. Her mother must have noticed her sudden discomfort because she reached onto the bed and clutched Scully's hand. They passed a smile between each other.

The sonographer was shaking a small bottle of gel "Ok mom, are you ready?"

Scully raised the hospital gown leaving the blanket to cover just below the waist of her underwear. The gel bottle made a rude farting noise as the sonographer squirted a pathetic splattering over her lower abdomen .The bottle was clearly coming to an end. Her pelvic muscles protested painfully, this seemed like it was taking far too long and the anticipation was killing her.

She pulled another bottle from a draw under her spaceship and Scully threw her head against the back of the bed in frustration. "I'm sorry about that, here we go." A thick blue line of very cold gel was spread across the top of her underwear. The sonographer tucked it further out of her way and pulled a wand off of the machine. She smeared it a few times over Scully's belly spreading the liquid. The blank screen came to life, a mixture of blue and black distorted lines gained the full attention of all three women. The anticipation was palpable. The sonographer stilled the wand and pressed down slightly, Scully's bladder protested but then suddenly she could feel nothing, the sight before her seemingly anaesthetising her entire body. The image appeared inside a large triangle with a rounded bottom. A perfect little head, a perfect little hand that was outstretched above a tiny little abdomen. Maggie and Scully drew a short collective breath and then a little foot lifted into the air coming into view making them both laugh softly.

"Oh my god." Scully pulled a shaky hand to her lips, feeling tears stirring in her eyes.

"Oh my goodness?" Maggie answered squeezing her daughters hand a little tighter.

Scully bit down on her bottom lip to hold back the threatening tears.

"One beautiful, healthy baby," the sonographer announced proudly.

As if wanting to show off in front of the impressed crowd the baby kicked both of its legs in the air and lifted its head up. All women responded with a "woow" kind of noise. Scully looked down at where the wand lay over her belly expecting to see something or feel something, of course she couldn't so she looked back to the screen.

"Your menstruation calendar doesn't match up too well but looking at your measurements I can confirm the gestation at 12 weeks and 5 days. Would you like to know the date of conception?"

In front of my mother! Are you kidding me! "No that isn't necessary." She knew exactly when this baby was conceived. You don't forget something like that; sailing the ocean on a beautiful cruise liner, a leather couch in a dusty old library that hadn't been used in years. An expensive designer gown pulled up at the waist, the love of your life holding your hips firmly pulling you down against him over and over until you saw stars. It was an encounter with a ghost on board that ship that had almost cost her her life but then in some beautiful irony had given her one instead.

The sonographer noted her slight embarrassment in front of her mother. "O.K let's have a listen then." She hit a button on her machine and the sound of a tiny but very fast little heart beat filled the room.

Maggie Scully gasped "It's so fast." She exclaimed.

"That's healthy." Both Scully and the sonographer answered together and then smiled at their synchronised response.

"Ok let me just print a picture here for you. If this little one will sit still long enough. He or she is a wriggler; I'm sensing a sports fan in your future".

Scully smiled picturing Mulder handing a basketball to a tiny infant, she took the small ultrasound picture from the sonographer's hands, feeling like she held the world instead. Looking at her own child drew her thoughts back to the case she was working on. "I really need to get back to work." She stood from the table. "Thank you." She gestured to the sonographer.

"You're welcome, everything looks very healthy and normal, I'll send my official report off to your OBGYN but I don't see anything of concern. We will perform an anatomy scan at 20 weeks." She smiled and shook Scully's hand "Nice to meet you and good luck with your case. I sure hope they find that little girl safe and sound soon."

Scully smiled politely and turned to her mum. "I'll get dressed can you drop me off at the offices of the police commissioners? I'm meeting Mulder there."

Maggie noted the seriousness and how her tone had shifted from personal to professional, "of course Dana."

Scully tucked the photo away in her purse, there would be a good moment to show him but she suspected she wouldn't find one today. She knocked on the large office door. 'Henry Mobb police commissioner' was written in bold gold letters across it. Mulder opened it initially looking a little confused at who would be interrupting him then relieved to see it was her.

"Good you're back can you take a look at this for me?"

'Hi Scully, nice to see you Scully, how was your scan…. No?' She paused as she thought and then closed the door and followed him behind the desk to the computer that he had settled behind.

"I've been skimming through Henry's emails spanning back over the last three months." He reported to her moving the mouse over the screen. She leant over his shoulder resting her hand next to the keyboard so she could see the computer screen effectively.

"Did anything stand out?"

"Yeah, for a high level police department they have really poor internet security."

She gave him the questioning eye brow as he looked over his shoulder at her.

"His trash inbox is full of penis enhancement advertisements."

He was rewarded with the subtle eyebrow shift from 'serious question' to 'sarcasm alert'.

"Increased girth and stamina Scully, only $8.99." He emphasised mockingly.

"Did you find anything that will help us Mulder?"

"Increased girth Scully" he punctuated.

"Mulder would you like me to stroke your immature masculine ego with a comment regarding your" brief pause "girth. Or would you actually like me to help you solve this case?"

He turned his eyes to the corner of the room as if he was weighing his options.

"Mulder!"

"hm?"

"The emails, did you find anything helpful in the emails." She had her serious face on

"Yes I did." He swivelled his chair back to face the screen and clicked on an open message. "Five months ago Henry's office headed a messy sexual assault case, involving a minor within a religious group that go by the name." He paused to scan the email. "The 12th gate sect." He looked back at her expectantly.

"Never heard of them." She answered his unspoken question.

"They are relatively new as far as cults go. To cut a long story short, they prosecuted another member of the group and put him away. The victim terminated a pregnancy, under the new law she was able to do it without parental consent. Our commissioner Henry was asked at a media conference his view on this law and I quote he said that 'he couldn't think of a better circumstance where the change in the law could be seen as anything other than favourable for this young girl.'" Scully pouted and nodded agreeing it was a bold statement to make in a public setting. "furthermore he commented on the blatant lack of integrity held by the individual who leaked the private medical records essentially revealing the identity of this girl to not only the public but also revealed she had aborted her pregnancy to the other members of the group." More nodding from Scully. "He went on to say that while her rapist had been sent to jail, the person who essentially victimised her further through her lack of confidentiality still walked free and he would see to it that that person was found and punished for the crime."

"So what happened?" She turned her face to his realising she was leaning heavily on his shoulder, this new angle meant their faces were less than an inch apart.

He hesitated too distracted by the closeness of their lips. "Umm well." He turned back to the computer and opened another email. "A medical receptionist, who was also a member of the group, was found to have obtained the information illegally. She lost her job as a result of the commissioner's investigation." He turned back to face her.

She noted his line of sight on her lips and licked them subconsciously "You think this is connected to our kidnapper? Why? If you think the 12th gate sect kidnaped this girl for revenge why would they ask for a ransom?"

He shrugged "unless the ransom is a smoke screen."

She looked back at the screen to see if she could answer her own questions, find something he wasn't telling her. He had a habit of dangling bits and pieces in front of her until she drew her own conclusion. She covered his hand on the mouse and pushed the curser to a file of emails stored under the name 'threats.' He watched their combined hands move slowly around the mouse pad and then her manicured finger push against his to open the file. It made him smile. The smile was fleeting when the file opened and over 300 emails appeared on the screen and that was just from the last three months. "Do any of these threats link up with the 12th gate case?"

"Yes and the receptionist and the girl's father and the media as well as a whole bunch of other prolife groups, not to mention the ones that are to do with the many other cases he has been involved in over the past three months." He sat back in the chair feeling and sounding defeated. "I'll send this to our computer guys see if there are any.."

"Woah woah." Scully interrupted. She was staring at the screen her eyes moving quickly over the emails.

"What?" he sat forward again to see if he could see what she was. He had two windows open on the screen. The general inbox and the one titled "threats."

"There." She pointed to an email from a security company in the general inbox confirming the installation and consequently change in security system for his home, then trailed her finger over to an email in the "threats" folder. "There these emails, the address lines are similar don't you think? They were also sent on the same day."

They looked at each other and then back at the computer screen. The security company's name was Hardened Locks ltd. The email that contained a very strong prolife message was from a personal Hotmail account, the name on the address was Arden Locks. "Setting up a new security system would be the perfect way to create a loop hole." He thought out loud.

"It would explain how the kidnapper slipped so easily passed a high tech security system" She finished his thought.

"Then again it could be a coincidence Scully?"

"You don't believe in coincidences."

He exhaled through his nose "I have the sudden urge to go shopping for home security?" he stood to face her.

She closed the lapels of his jacket, straightened his tie and then looked up at him "hmm we should see if our computer guys can get an address for Mr Locks as well."

"hmmm" He smiled down at her, he loved it when she tidied him. "Scully regarding the question of girth.."

She rolled her eyes and dropped his tie. "Let's go Mulder".

The car jutted slowly along the busy stretch of road highlighting the awkward unspoken words that filled the car. The logistics of this case were starting to rear its ugly head for the pair. "It should be just around this corner." Scully eyed the map again and then shoved it back into the glove box that stubbornly flicked open, she shoved it and it fell open again, three more forceful attempts and it finally stayed closed.

"You ok Scully?" He eyed her from behind the steering wheel.

"Fine, what about you?"

"What about me?"

She shook her head, if he wasn't willing to talk about it neither was she. "Nothing."

He knew she was thinking about Samantha. Worrying that this case would rear a bunch of old feelings he had so recently been able to bury deeper into his soul. He read her subconscious thought. She was right he didn't want to talk about it. He was fine, really fine in fact. Then he realised his brain was saying fine a lot and wondered if years of hearing Scully say that had made that single adjective a subconscious tool to block further discussion, in this case to avoid delving further into his thoughts. He was fine, that made him laugh outwardly.

"What's funny?" She looked a little annoyed at him as she spoke.

"Nothing." He needed to stay focused on the case. A thirteen year old girls life was at stake. Her father who happened to also be a very important man in this city had placed a lot of faith in his ability to find her. He didn't want to, no he couldn't let him down. Thinking about Samantha or discussing it with Scully would only draw focus from that. He heard her take an exaggerated breath through tight lips and decided the safest thing to do was change the subject. He looked out the window taking a brief moment to compose himself and think of something to say. That brief pause in thought away from the case was enough to remind him of something he should have already asked her. Dammit, he suddenly didn't feel so fine anymore. "How was your scan Scully?"

She looked cautiously pleased with him making her pause before she responded "well….." The sound of his cell phone ringing from its deck on the dashboard cut her off.

"Sorry." Mulder mouthed and hit the speaker button. "Mulder".

"Mulder its Johnson." Johnson was one of the men they had met at the Mobb household, one of the commissioners 'right hand men'. "We think we know where they are."

Both agents sat forward in their seats as if getting closer to the phone would make what he just said more believable. "How?" Mulder exclaimed.

"You were right about the security company and the 12th gate sect link. One of the members is an employee there. Your computer guys linked that Hotmail address back to him. He also just happened to of installed a new security system into all of the new Mason clinics around the city."

"Mason Clinics?" Mulder questioned, unfamiliar with what that meant.

"The Mason Clinics are relatively new, privately operated medical facilities." Scully interjected. "There are four Clinics all owned by Mason Industries who lease out a level to different private medical facilities for clinical purposes."

"Would they perform medical procedures in these clinics?" Mulder directed his question to Scully but the voice on the other end of the phone answered instead cutting her off before she go the words out.

"Yes they range from Dentistry to Gynaecology."

"Gynaecology?" This was starting to make sense "Are you implying that a termination may be performed within these facilities?" Mulder's eyes moved between the phone and Scully.

"Yes." Johnson spoke through the phone and Scully nodded affirmatively. "Two of the four clinics have underground laboratories. Both laboratories, due to the nature of work conducted within them are set up essentially like underground bunkers. We suspect our suspects have the girl down there. The sound guys analysing the ransom phone call agree that they are most likely in a confined or sound proof space."

Mulder and Scully looked at each other and then back at the phone.

"Where are you agents?"

"We are heading down 9th, we were on our way to the Home security building." Mulder answered.

"Don't bother we need you here. We are sending a swat team to each site." Johnson's voice just moved up an octave they could hear him ruffling around like he was in the back of a van about to prepare for an armed raid.

"Woah, who's orders are we following here?"

"The commissioners" he replied the words 'who else,' left hanging unsaid.

"This is under federal jurisdiction Johnson." Mulder tried to stamp his authority.

"The feds are here Agent Mulder."

"Yeah but who's calling the shots? The commissioner should not be getting involved in the conduct of this case and you, you are acting on minimal information. You can't just charge into two large medical facilities in the middle of the day on a whim." Mulder's patience was clearly wearing thin.

"Has the kidnapper made contact again regarding the ransom?" Scully asked calmly trying to defuse the conversation.

"No. With all due respect Agent Mulder we have more than a whim. Look why don't you just get here Agents, we can quarrel over who wears the pants in this family then."

"You haven't told us where *here* is yet!" Mulder boomed. Scully could see his knuckles pale as he gripped the gear stick a little tighter she reached over and gripped his forearm to attempt to calm him.

"We are heading to the corner of north and Fifth. The commissioner is at the north end of White street." Johnson disconnected the call.

"Johnson? Johnson!?" Mulder slammed his hand on the steering wheel and cursed out the window. "This doesn't make sense Scully, It's all too easy." He glanced over at her she had pulled the file on the case. A little manila folder that contained everything they had so far. Her eyes were scanning sentences while her fingers flicked through pages. "Why would a prolife religious group ask for a ransom? Why would they hold her in such a public place that also happens to be an abortion clinic?" He paused and stole another glance at her she was still flicking and reading, her lips were moving as she skimmed the pages. "Too many coincidences Scully."

"You don't believe in coincidences remember." She spoke without lifting her attention from the pages.

He looked at her then back at the line of traffic in front of them. "Who would be smart enough to bypass two high tech security systems, plan such an elaborate kidnapping and yet be dumb enough to leave an easily traceable Hotmail address so obviously connected? No, this feels like a trail of breadcrumbs Scully, only what's it leading too?"

Her eyes glassed over half way down the page she was reading. "A bomb" She slowly glanced over the page.

Mulders eyes snapped in her direction "What?!"

"Pull over Mulder, I think I've got something."

The wheels screeched as the car swerved towards the curb, Mulder threw his belt off and leaned onto her side of the car, he scanned the piece of paper she was holding as she spoke.

"The commissioner is at the Mason Clinic on White Street." He nodded agreeing and encouraging her to carry on. "Well so is the Doctor who performed our victim's termination, he locums there once a week." She pointed to something nonspecific on the piece of paper she was holding. Their eyes locked as realisations started to wash over him. "I've visited that lab Mulder, it is literally a bomb shelter because the chemicals they store in there are highly volatile. The ransom call was just another breadcrumb, he wanted us to figure out he was in a bomb shelter, the security company and the two emails were just more bread crumbs. He wants us to charge into that building. He wants the doctor and the commissioner in that building."

"He's going to blow it up." He finished for her. She nodded, her expression tight and glazed with concern. "We need to get to that building. How far is it?" He put the car in gear.

"Three blocks."

The car pulled out in front of an oncoming yellow cab whose driver leant on the horn in response, Mulder ignored it and put his foot hard to the floor. "Should I call Johnson?"

"No don't bother, call Skinner it's time we show them who's 'wearing the pants'"

Skinner approached the car as they pulled into the large car park of the White Street Mason clinic. A large perimeter of police cars and unmarked vans had been set up around the building. Mulder pulled in behind the cars and flew out of the car towards Skinner "You got here quick, have they evacuated yet?" He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, his jacket was discarded, his sleeves wound up above his elbows his face showing he meant business. Scully had slowly released her seatbelt and chosen a more calm approach to exiting their car. She stood at the door, keeping a safe distance from her boss and partner.

Skinner looked over at Scully then looked up to face Mulder, he put a cautioning hand out towards him. "You need to calm down Agent Mulder."

"Calm down, I'll calm down when that building is evacuated and Sarah Mobb is back sleeping in her bed!" Scully heard Mulder's voice accelerate and saw him lean in to glare at his boss. She took that as her cue to approach.

Skinner puffed out his chest and matched Mulder's tone. "Are you going to hear me out Agent Mulder, let me brief you on our current position, or are you going to continue to stamp your feet like a spoiled toddler?" Scully's reassuring shoulder brushed his arm and it was enough to calm his temper momentarily. He bit his lower lip and stepped from foot to foot showing he was willing to back down and let Skinner speak. He briefly scanned the cars and law enforcement around the building. Few were still in suits, most were in helmets and bullet proof vests, even skinner had a big vest on. The yellow F.B.I. letters seemed to punctuate his authority even more. Mulder couldn't see the commissioner anywhere and his stomach sunk a little further south. Skinner calmed the tone of his voice if nothing else he excelled in keeping calm in a stressful situation. "We don't know where the bomb is. We can't confirm if there is even a bomb on site" He put his hand up when Mulder went to respond to that. "Wait! If there is a bomb we can't risk him setting it off if we start to evacuate." Mulder puffed with frustration and Scully moved slightly closer to him, again making contact with his arm against hers reassuringly. "He holds all the cards, he knows the security system for all we know he is monitoring the whole building and parking lot from the lab. Who knows how and when he will set the bomb off. We don't even know if he has the girl with him but If he is in the bunker with the girl then they are the only ones shielded in that building from an explosion."

"His intend was never to harm the girl. He wants to kill the Doctor, the commissioner and anyone else he sees responsible." Scully summarized.

Both Skinner and Mulder looked over at her, Mulder rubbed a shaking hand over his face. "Where is the commissioner?" Skinner hesitated nervously "Skinner? Where is Henry Mobb?"

Skinners lower jaw twitched. "He's in the building."

Whatever control Mulder had on his emotions was gone as soon as those words fell from his bosses mouth "Jesus Christ!" Scully looked to the ground, there was nothing she could do to diffuse this; it was turning out to be a royal disaster.

"He was in there when I got here." Skinner emphasised each word separately.

Mulder pushed his eyes into their sockets with his thumb and forefinger. Another F.B.I agent was walking towards them carrying vests. When he reached them he handed them to Skinner who handed one to Mulder and then to Scully.

"Do we have anything that may resemble the beginning of plan here?" Mulder asked.

Skinner suddenly looked uncomfortable "I'm not happy with it but I have discussed it with the commissioner's men and have made a decision."

"Don't leave us in suspense Sir?"

Skinner sighed heavily "We are sending you two in." Scully's head snapped up from the ground to face her boss. "We can't risk evacuating the building and having our man set off the bomb in the process and we can't see any other way of communicating with him."

"NO!" Mulder was shaking his head.

"No? Agent Mulder you are a psychologist you've negotiated with terrorists before. You can talk to this guy, we have no other means of communication. Agent Scully knows this lab, she knows her way around these chemicals and may have some way of finding out where the bomb is."

Mulder was still shaking his head. "No I'll go Scully stays here." He threw the vest over his head and tightened the strap as he walked away. Skinner looked over at Scully stunned and seeking explanation from her.

She looked at Skinner briefly then looked over at Mulders back "Mulder!" She called.

"You're not going Scully!" he replied over his shoulder. He stopped beside an open van where a group of F.B.I. swat team members were fiddling with communication equipment. One started fitting him with a head piece. Scully briefly looked up at Skinner who was still eyeing her up waiting for her to explain her partner's outburst. She ignored him pulling the vest over her head and marched towards Mulder. Skinner followed closely behind.

"Mulder, you can't go in there by yourself." She ducked her head under his chin in an attempt to have a more private conversation with him. But Skinner stood closely behind her listening into their tense exchange.

"That's fine Scully I'll take someone else."

"Who else knows the facility and chemistry like Agent Scully?" Skinner interrupted. Scully sucked in her cheeks, a sour taste just filled her mouth as she tried to come up with an explanation for Mulders complete disregard of a direct order from their superior.

"We'll find someone else." Mulder shot to Skinner over Scully's shoulder.

The colour in Skinners face changed from a light pinkie pale to bright crimson red, starting from the collar of his tie knotted too tight and finishing at the end of his receding hair line. "Can someone please enlighten me as to why Agent Scully is no longer capable of fore filling her job as outlined in her F.B.I. contract?"

Scully raised her chin to Mulder her face was covered with nerves, she silently pleaded with him to keep his mouth shut. The agent was tightening the chin strap of Mulders head gear obscuring his view of Scully slightly but he knew what she was asking, he could read her expression clearly. He had no choice. "She's pregnant." He stated simply. The Agent's hands on Mulders chin stopped briefly shocked by the size of gossip he had just heard, Skinner almost fell backwards and if looks could kill Scully just took out a semi-automatic and emptied a clip into his chest. Nobody spoke for what felt like hours but was merely a passing minute.

Scully was surrounded by three tall, authoritive men. She felt like someone had just swiped her knee caps. She wouldn't let them take her down further. She reloaded her metaphorical pistol and raised her chin. "Well now we have all that out in the open…" She dragged her eyes over Mulder as she turned to face Skinner.

"Scully?" Mulder pleaded to her back.

She ignored him. "I'll find someone to replace me sir and then I'll join the communications team in the back of the van, I can assist the agents going in from there." Scully looked calm and collected at her boss. Who nodded nervously apparently unable to string a sentence together to reply. "Good" She nodded to the man who had finished wiring Mulder up and was apparently eyeing up the appropriateness of his footwear now. He nodded back too afraid to catch her eye. "Good" she repeated and then left them to their awkward silence. She walked over to another team of agents who had assembled next to the bomb squad van, hoping she would find someone there who could take her place with Mulder.

Mulder and Skinner watched her retreat, both willing the other to speak first. "Sir…." Mulder started.

"I don't want to know Agent Mulder let's just concentrate on getting inside that building." He turned to the communications Agent who was barely containing himself. "Is he ready?"

"Yes Sir." The Agent jumped into the back of the van to concentrate on synching Mulders equipment with his monitors.

A deep crevice had formed in between Skinners brows when he turned to address Mulder. Suddenly he had more to worry about than some looney toon blowing up a full clinic with the city's commissioner of police inside. He needed to concentrate on one thing at a time. "Ok Mulder get in there see if you can talk this guy down. As soon as you can, tell us where the bomb is. We need to know the second it is safe to evacuate the building. Get in and then get out, no heroics. Do I make myself clear?" Mulder nodded, head lowered. His heart was racing; his adrenaline levels had kicked into over drive. He looked over to Scully who was busy talking to the bomb squad guys. The last thing he wanted to do was enter that building with her mad at him. Skinner noted his line of site. "No heroics Agent Mulder! You are safe in the lab so for god's sake stay down there. The priority here is to find out when it's safe to evacuate." He followed his eyes to Scully's back. "You were right to tell me, I needed to know. But shit you have a way with timing." He shook his head and sighed. Mulder lifted his eyes from the ground to meet his boss's. 'She is going to kill me' was written over his expression. "I needed to know." Skinner reiterated. "Right now all you have to worry about is getting your arse back out of that building safely so she can kick it and just so you know I'll be waiting in that line behind her." He smiled, trying to lighten the moment.

"That's a long line Sir."

Skinner placed a firm hand on his shoulder and Mulder wondered just how much he knew about this new revelation. He was a smart man and it didn't take a genius to suspect there was more to their partnership. Then again there was the issue of fertility and conspiracy not to mention abductions and clones. Nothing was ever straight forward in the X-files office. Maybe he was as baffled by this pregnancy as Mulder felt.

Another agent from the bomb squad approached them, breaking his chain of thought. "Excuse me AD Skinner, Agent Mulder, I'm Agent Tristan. Agent Scully sent me over; I believe I'm needed in negotiation?"

"Yes thank you Agent." Skinner shook his hand. Agent Tristan stood under Skinner's nose, his big brown eyes and voice that sounded like it hadn't quite broken completely at puberty made him seem more junior than he actually was. "Do you know the building at all?"

"Ah yes Sir I was assigned to assess the lab when it was built to ensure it was.." he paused seemingly embarrassed "safe." The irony was not lost on them but all let it pass without a word spoken.

"Good." He leant an arm on the edge of the van and addressed the men inside. "Let's get Agent Tristan wired up. We go in ten." He slapped his hand on the van and turned, almost falling over Scully. "Sorry Agent Scully aaah.." He looked nervous seemingly embarrassed like a father whose daughter just revealed she was no longer a virgin. "Excellent, all in order there Scully." As if that made any sense

"Ah yes sir."

"Good, great" He petted her on the shoulder and then stepped passed her towards another group of agents.

Scully looked squeamish, it was so inappropriate to feel awkward at this moment but felt as though Skinner just realized she was naked under all those clothes. She was tempted to roll her eyes but the conflicting emotions running threw her rendered her unable to express sarcasm. She could feel Mulder's eyes on her and refused to meet them instead looking at Agent Tristan who was currently being fitted with his communication equipment by the same agent who had fitted Mulder's. "Are we clear on what we are looking for Agent Tristan?" She lowered her voice trying to remain calm.

"Yes Agent Scully." He looked nervous and his nervousness was making her feel guilty for being the one responsible for sending him in there. Usually able to maintain a professional perspective under these circumstances she found her pregnancy hormones had kicked her maternal instincts into overdrive. Her attention turned to the Agent adjusting his head gear. With Mulder's death stare aimed at her on one side of him and her clearly avoiding it on the other side the wrinkles of tension in the air were literally bouncing off of him. He wore a cheeky smirk on his face. "Everything ok Agent?" Scully sounded tense

"Absolutely Agent Scully." He bit his lower lip, keeping his eyes firmly set on tightening Agent Tristan's chin strap.

She drew a short breath suddenly feeling like the girl who had a note to get out of Phys. Ed because she had her period "Where do you want me?"

"Jump in behind Monitor three, I think it's safer if you watch over Agent Tristan here." That smirk had returned to his face.

Nope she couldn't help it her eyes rolled all on their own accord. She pushed passed him and into the back of the van. Mulder wasn't brave enough, actually he wasn't silly enough to try something with her in front of half the F.B.I so he was doing his best to channel their silent communication. Tell her he was sorry. Tell her to pull her head in of course he couldn't allow her to go into that building. Tell her she was everything to him and now carried a gift he was just having trouble deciding how to unwrap. Tell her he couldn't go into that building without her at least looking at him, giving him some indication she would forgive him, even if it wasn't in the close future. The problem with silent communication though is that it only works when both parties were face to face and she knew it, which is why she was suddenly facing everywhere but him. He watched her jump into the van, blatantly turning her back to him. All he could feel then was pissed off, as if he didn't have enough to worry about at this moment. "Are you ready then?" He turned to Agent Tristan who nodded affirmatively. "Then let's get this over with."

Mulder and Tristan marched the large space between the semi-circle of parked swat and police vehicles that surrounded the Mason centre. When they had taken the first few steps a steady patter of rain began to litter the warm concrete they tread on. Now half way between safety and uncertain terror the rain pelted down on their helmets and heavy artillery uniform. Creating steam off the sun warmed path. Mulder's focus was on the front door, his mind on what he was going to say to the man who woke up this morning and made the decision to terrify and crucify those who didn't believe in his truth and pondered what it took to break the proverbial camels back of sanity.

"Should I be worried that this gear is not waterproof?" Tristan asked nervously. He was trying to break a tense moment with a joke. The two could feel the weight of the crowd's eyes on their backs. Mulder smirked at his attempt at humorous relief as he pushed open the revolving door and stepped over the cheerful welcome mat of the Mason centre.

From her position Scully could see and hear from Agent Tristan's view point and through her window she could watch the pair cross the threshold. The rain started to pelt loudly on the roof of the van and cause muffled noise in her earpiece from Tristan's mic. Her gaze came to the back of Mulders helmet a small patch of his neck was visible at the top of his vest. A sensitive spot that less than 48 hours ago she was brushing with her lips, whispering sweet elicit promises and now in some twist of fate was the only spot of him exposed to a terrorist. Her stomach dropped to the floor and a wave of nausea threatened to break her cool exterior. She brought her fingers to her mouth and swallowed the bile down hard. There was an irrational urge to run after him, it took every ounce of resistance she possessed to stay in the van and focus on getting this over with. She had let her stubborn need to be in control of every aspect of her life control her actions again and he had walked into that building wondering how she felt about him. Now that she could rationalise it she had decided he was right to tell Skinner, it was his right as the father of her unborn child to weigh in on that decision. She didn't admit it often, but she was wrong about this one and she didn't tell him. "Shit."

"Everything OK Agent Scully?" Tristan spoke into her air piece.

She didn't realise she had vocalised that curse "Yes, everything is fine at this end Agent Tristan." She hid the shake in her voice well. Tristan was facing Mulder so from her view point on the screen she was face to face with him. "Be careful ok." She knew Mulder couldn't hear her but hoped he knew she was thinking of him. Tristan didn't reply just turned and carried on his decent with Mulder through the first floor of the building. The two secretaries who usually sat neatly at the front door ready to direct patients to the correct floor were now sitting huddled together, sheltering themselves below their desk. Mulder hoped the rest of the people in the building had followed their advice and was doing the same. He nodded at them reassuringly and gave the team in the van the first glimpse of some of the victims trapped in the building.

When they reached the main elevator Mulder hit the down arrow, both men stood in silence as they watched the lights descend down the floors the elevator was passing. The doors sprung open and a cheerful computerised female voice greeted them as they stepped onto the lift. "Welcome to the Mason Clinic, thank you for choosing us for your health and surgical needs. Please press the floor you require and have a really nice day." Mulder and Tristan passed a sarcastic glance then stared blankly at the list of floor options. Mulder looked over to Tristan "Please pick a floor." The nice elevator lady prompted him.

"You heard the lady, pick a floor." Mulder pointed at the three basement options.

"Ah I don't remember which one."

"Jesus Christ. The bomb could go at any minute, the longer we stand around flirting with the elevator lady the more chances we have of having our brains splatter the walls."

"Please pick a floor." The elevator lady was starting to get impatient.

"Can someone please enlighten us which floor we need to be on?" Mulder yelled into his mic. As Agent Tristan hit B3 obviously Scully had just informed him. "Thank you." The elevators decent was painfully slow and tense. They could almost hear the ticking hands of the timer on the bomb and yet had no clue how many ticks lead to the last.

"Once those doors open you are safe Agents." An unfamiliar male voice spoke into Mulders ear.

"That would be more reassuring if there weren't 500 other people in this building." The tension in Mulders voice unnerved everyone that heard it.

"We await the signal to evacuate." The agent in Mulders ear responded.

"When it's safe to evacuate you will know." The lift doors flew open and blinding fluorescent light flooded the small metal lift. Both agents had their guns on their belts but neither drew them choosing to do a visual assessment of the situation first. The room was a large mostly open space. There were computer monitors and various lab equipment littered over benches randomly placed around the room. On the walls were large locked cupboards with long names and chemical codes on them. Mulder surmised by the multiple 'caution' and 'hazardous material' stickers that's where the liquid lightening was kept. The room was eerily still, the hum of the computers the only audible sound. Having made their visual assessment both men exited the lift and the door made a definitive bang as it closed signifying their safety and then it whirred as it began its accent back up the elevator shaft letting them know how alone they really were.

Both men entered the bright laboratory. Senses peeked to their maximum potential. They walked with one hand on their guns and the other out to defend themselves. Mulder pointed to the left indicating he was going in that direction. He pointed two fingers to the right indicating where he wanted Tristan to go. Tristan nodded and rounded the small bend to the right. Mulder passed a row of monitors sitting on the first bench he approached. Each monitor held a video feed that was flicking between security cameras around the various floors of the clinic. He quickly scanned the feed "can you guys see this?" He whispered into his mic.

"Yeah we see it."

The images on the screen resembled a twisted reality show. Hundreds of scared people were huddled together under benches, chairs and hospital beds. There were Doctors and Nurses trying to comfort their patients, there were people in gowns, uniforms and children sobbing against their mother's chests. Mulder scanned each monitor closely, looking for their terrorist, the bomb, the commissioner and identify which one was the gynaecology floor.

"Agent Mulder, over here." Agent Tristan called to him from across the lab. "I've found the girl."

Mulder rushed around the benches following the direction of Tristan's voice. He found him huddled in a corner with a very scared, gagged and tied young girl. He was busy removing her restraints when Mulder joined them on the floor. "Sarah?" The girl nodded as they lowered her gag. "Are you hurt?"

"No" she whimpered and shook her head. "I'm cold, I want my mom." She began to cry. Tristan placed a hand on the scared girls shoulder to steady her shrugging sobs.

"We are going to get you out of here ok Sarah. You will be with your mum again before you know it." Mulder spoke slowly and calmly. Locking eyes with her to show her just how much he believed what he was saying. He turned to his current partner "Go back to the monitors see if you can find what we are looking for." Tristan nodded briskly and ran over to the security screens in search of a bomb. Mulder knelt down to eye level with the child. "Sarah I know you're scared, I promised you I would get you out of here. Right now I really need you to try and be a little brave." He gripped her shoulder bringing her eyes to his. "Do you think you could try for me Sarah?" He knew repeating her name would gain her trust. She sobbed loudly then took a breath trying to calm herself then nodded at him. "Good can you tell me about the man who brought you here?" She nodded again but didn't speak. "Great." He smiled at her. "Can you tell me what he looked like, what he was wearing? Did he tell you what he was doing or where he was going?"

"He didn't tell me anything, he didn't talk to me at all." She started to sob again. "He brought me straight here from my house, he just left me here." Mulder patted her on the shoulder again.

"Agent Mulder." The agent from the van spoke in his ear. He didn't like the way he held back as he spoke.

"Give me a minute ok. " He smiled again at Sarah and stood securing his earpiece into his ear. He was rewarded with static. "Can you hear me?" More static. He removed the ear piece to clear it.

When he put it back to his ear he could hear the Agent getting impatient with someone. "Well fix it, they are no use to us if we can't talk to them!"

"Everything ok out there?" Mulder lowered his voice purposely in front of the girl.

"Yes I apologise the rain is messing with our equipment. I need you to get back to Agent Tristan. Leave the girl for now."

He nodded forgetting they couldn't see him then knelt back down to the girl whose sobbing had now been replaced with rocking while she clutched her knees to her chest. "Sarah I need to go and talk to the other agent ok?" she nodded but didn't look up at him. "You are being so brave Sarah. I'm not going to go far, just around the corner and I will come back ok." She nodded again. "You just call out if you need us ok?" He stood and moved quickly back to the monitors and Agent Tristan. He could see Henry Mobb clearly on one of the screens, he was standing next to a Doctor in uniform and from the fear in their eyes he gathered the man standing behind them was their terrorist. He was awkwardly tall and gangly. The way he towered over the two men made him appear menacing. Mulder had static in his ear again so he directed his questions at Tristan. "Can you hear Scully?" He shook his head, he looked scared too. "Can you see the bomb Tristan?"

Tristan gathered his wits taking his finger off the screen and turned to Mulder. "I think I can see it on this monitor." He pointed back at the same screen. "See over here in the corner, there is a desk with two canisters joined by some piping." He briefly looked back at Mulder who was now bracing himself on the desk and leaning over Tristan to see. He nodded, he could see. "Our guy is holding a remote I think it activates a mechanism that will transfer one chemical to the other causing…." His sentence dropped there.

"Boom." Mulder finished for him.

Tristan nodded and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"So let's evacuate the other floors." His ear piece was still spilling static so he pressed against it to try and adjust the setting.

"Wait. Agent Scully disagrees."

"What?" Mulder's voiced started to rise. "What does she think?"

"She thinks the bomb is in the second basement. The room above us" his eyes and finger pointed to the ceiling.

"Why does she think that?"

"I don't know! The feed is crap I can only hear static now. But we can't evacuate until we know for su…" His ear piece came to life interrupting him mid word. He listened intently.

Mulder could just make out the sound of Scully's voice through Tristan's mic but not enough to hear what she was actually saying. It was her panic voice though, the calm and clear but slightly elevated tone she spoke to him through a similar mic when he was faced with Dwayne Barry. Mulder still had static in his ear. He got right down into Tristan's face waiting impatiently for him to repeat Scully's message.

Tristan faced Mulder when Scully's voice stopped. "We are losing communication. We have about two minutes to decide?"

"Decide what?!" Mulder was losing his patience.

"We have to assume the guy can see the security feed." Mulder nodded in agreement. "If I am right then this bomb once triggered will explode in 3.35 minutes based on the chemical reactivity time of those elements."

Mulder always got lost at the science stuff. "Make your point Agent Tristan." He urged him forward.

Tristan laughed nervously the sweat was starting to stain the material that covered his forehead from under his helmet. "I say we evacuate. If our guy activates the bomb as we evacuate we can still get most people out before the bomb explodes leaving minimal casualties."

"Ok and what does Scully think?"

"Scully thinks that's what he wants us to do so that bomb is a decoy. So he can kill himself, his two prisoners and anyone else in that room he wants. She thinks this is the real bomb." He pointed to an unmarked box sitting on a bench in one of the other labs in view on the security screen. "She thinks we should leave everyone in the building, tinker the security feed on this floor and get the squad in to disarm the bomb right under his nose."

Mulder looked nervously at his wrist watch he had 45 seconds to decide, it was his call and his call alone. The static in his ear had been replaced with deathly silence as everyone waited for him to speak.

Tristan looked increasingly nervous and began to fidget. He was certain he was right and Scully was wrong. "Mulder I'm telling you I am starring at a bomb here. She is starring at an unlabelled box." Mulder looked at his ticking hand "I'm here with you she is safely sitting in the back of a van, she sent me in here with you…"

"Fifteen seconds." The agent in Mulders ear reminded him.

Mulder blew a breath out through his nose. "Don't evacuate."

Agent Tristan threw his hands in the air "you just signed a major death certificate Mulder!"

Mulder starred down his nose at Agent Tristan "Don't evacuate! Send in the squad, follow Agent Scully's orders."

"Yes sir" and with that the radio went dead.

"We lost them." Skinner threw his headphones at the now blank screen.

"He said not to evacuate before the feed went out though. You all heard that right?" Scully looked around the van at everyone. The rain on the roof made the tension more audible. None of them were willing to accept he had made the right decision. But no-one was willing to offer an alternative. She looked to Skinner for his support.

"How close are we to jamming the feed from the second basement?" He turned to one of the techy's in the van.

"Aah we are going as fast as we can sir. This guy was smart we are having trouble tapping into his feed."

Skinner looked to Scully when he replied. "As fast as you can agent so we can get the bomb squad in."

Scully moved next to Skinner "we can't monitor the movements inside. How do we know Mulder and Tristan won't move out of the shelter? How do we know there aren't two bombs? God How do we know when this guy hits the trigger?" She whispered to him.

"You made the right call Scully now stick to it. I gave Mulder a direct order not to move from the shelter!" He whispered back but his voice was stern he believed his authoritive tone held some significant ground.

"Ha" Scully said then laughed a nervous almost crying laugh.

"Shit!" Skinner picked up Scully's meaning. Since when did Mulder listen to direct orders from him. They literally had no idea what was going on inside that building. "How's that feed coming?" He looked up to the Agent he had just addressed.

"I think we are close sir."

"Good as soon as you can bypass that feed we can send in our guys." He looked nervously at Scully who hadn't dropped her death stare from him.

"We're in." The Agent punctuated his statement by hitting a button on his keyboard, smiling triumphantly. "We have the feed on a loop so our terrorist won't see our guys enter the building or the second basement."

"Good tell the bomb squad it's a go."

Someone in the van spoke quietly into a radio. "Com van to bomb squad. The order is a go. GO GO GO."

They all watched the two armoured men run into the building. No-one spoke, no-one breathed. Once the men entered the building all communication was lost. "I'd like you to know that when this is over I am filing an official complaint about the communications in this exercise." Scully said to Skinner. He drew a long breath in response, not one thing had gone right in this operation. Minutes that equalled hours to those sitting in tense vigilance over the building passed. A busy Washington street reduced to simple sounds. A sniff, a cough, the tapping of fingers on a keyboard, quick heavy breathing, even the sound of each personnel's beating heart could be heard. As everyone waited, prayed, begged that this would end well.

Suddenly the front door opened, like a dam broken in a storm and frantic screaming people came flooding out onto the wet pavement from both the rear and front of the building. "What the….." Skinner began turning to Scully who was crouched down next to him in the van. Both looked to each other then jumped through the doors ready to direct scared civilians to safety. Literally hundreds of people were frantically running screaming incoherently as the rain pounded down around them. Then thunder filled the air. A deep grumbling sound that anchored Scully's feet to the pavement. She looked to the sky, her eyes blinking against the heavy rain drops that fell into them, but it was only hope that had her look up. She knew the thunder came from beneath her feet. She knew the thunder was not thunder at all. Three loud crackles rumbled below as the bomb clicked over its sequence. The ground trembled beneath her feet. 500 civilian bodies dived for cover behind the police vehicles. Every single law enforcement officer ran forward to help. Then fire and smoke filled the air, the boom of the explosion rippled through the atmosphere sending those that were still standing to the ground. But the sound of walls crumbling, the shattering of glass, the concrete literally turning to sand could not drown out the scream that rang from her very soul.

"MUUUULLLLLLDDDDEEEEEERRRRR!"

##########

Scully lay on her side of his bed. She looked across the empty space that he should be laying on at the clock on his bureau, it was only 3.30am. She had showered and changed into a long, button up pyjama top hoping that would convince her body to fall asleep. Her body wanted to, needed to sleep it was her mind that was holding her back. Each time she closed her eyes vivid flashes from the events of the day was all she could see. She hadn't allowed herself to cry yet, feeling that crying would be like accepting fate, it would feel like defeat and She didn't feel worthy of those tears, not after all she had said and done. She closed her eyes and the images started to roll again, beginning with that hurt look that Mulder gave her right before he entered that building. He had been pleading with her to look at him, to forgive him for what he had to do. Her eyes shot back open again to stare up at the roof. She considered counting the cobwebs in the corners to pass some time, maybe get a broom and start sweeping them away. She exhaled noisily and lulled her head back to the clock willing it to be closer to sunrise: 3.32 am. It was going to be a long night. She dared to close her eyes again, this time there was that noise. That boom that started like a rumble beneath her feet and ended with fire and rain, smoke and blood. There were people wailing, people yelling, sirens and car alarms. Her ears were muffled, partially deafened by the volume of the boom. She was running through the crowd, helping to pick people up, patching a few wounds, ushering people out of the rain, always looking for Mulder, frantically searching for his face amongst the many. Her bottom lip trembled forcing her eyes to face the cobwebs again. She bit down hard to stop it from shaking.

Two men lost their lives today. One of the advantages, if that is what you could call it, is that being a Dr and an F.B.I agent she was able to think in statistics. After all it was statistics that measured the success of an operation and determined who had done well and who was to blame if anything went wrong. That's all that mattered to those who sat high up in the food chain, those that gave out the money. So there were 598 civilians and law officers there that day and 596 people walked away that meant that 99.668% people who could have died didn't (yes she could do that in her head, always the math geek). She was picturing the numbers up on Mulders roof and that number looked good, really good in fact. Her lips turned downward as she turned the numbers around. Pointing in the air she drew imaginary numbers on Mulder's roof; 2 of 598 meant 0.33% of people there that day perished. That number would look numerically small and acceptable to her superiors, they didn't realise like she did that that 0.33% was someone's son, brother, partner, friend, lover; Someone's father. Her hand drifted on its own accord to her stomach. That's when it happened, a single tear fell from her lid and hit the white of his pillow case. Her cel phone ringing next to the bed startled her. She composed herself and hit answer "Hello"

"Agent Scully?" Her boss was always the professional, even at this time of the day.

"Sir," she sat upright pulling her pyjama top closed as if he had walked in on her. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I just left the hospital. I thought you would want to know how Agent Tristan was doing."

"Yes Sir."

"Well, he's still unconscious but he came out of surgery ok. His wife is with him and the Doctors are optimistic that he will make a full recovery."

"That's good news sir" she was genuinely pleased to hear that. If Tristan recovered quickly, that seriously brought down the statistics of 'people seriously injured' in her report. She had really adapted a morbid way to regard the value of human life she thought to herself.

"Did you get checked out Agent Scully?" He paused wanting to tread lightly, "are you ok?"

"I'm fine sir, just a few stitches to my forehead." She knew he was asking about more than the gash she had above her right eye. He wanted to know about the baby and she wasn't ready to talk to him about that yet. She closed her eyes again, frustrated and another image came to her. Skinner was holding her arm, leaning into her face "are you ok?" He was yelling at her but she was hearing him as if he was talking through a tube. "Agent Scully you're bleeding." That's when she had felt a thick drop of blood run down her cheek and she swiped it away with her hand. Thick red blood mixed with soot and dust stained her fingers. "Where's Mulder!" She screamed back at him "I can't find Mulder!"

"Agent Scully are you there? Scully can you hear me."

Her flash back had drawn her far from her current conversation she shook her head "yes, I'm sorry sir what were you saying?"

"I asked if you had heard from him."

"No" a long, silent pause followed.

"Sarah Mobb is back in her own bed tonight Agent Scully and her father was there to kiss her goodnight." As if that could offer her some reassurance, frankly his comfort was not what she was after. "Our security guy won't be blowing up anymore buildings."

"Or shooting anymore Doctors" she added coldly. She didn't know the Dr who was killed that day, she knew he was a family man with family values, whose opinions had differed to the terrorist who appointed himself judge jury and executioner and shot him point blank in the head. Mulder had given him the same fate, putting a bullet between his eyes as he turned his gun from the Dr he had just murdered in cold blood to the police commissioner, Henry Mobb, unfortunately not before he had activated the bomb. How Mulder and the bomb squad had managed to evacuate the building and get to the bomb shelter in time was still a mystery to her and probably always would be.

Skinner didn't know how to respond to that so sighed instead. "Why don't you try and get some sleep Agent Scully. Be sure to call me if you need anything."

"Yes Sir, thank you Sir." She disconnected the call and threw her head back down in the pillow. The room was so dark and quiet she thought about turning on a light and finding something to read when she heard the lock turn in the front door and then the clink of keys hitting the coffee table softly. His footsteps were quiet and measured as he drew closer and she held her breath in anticipation of their first confrontation since he left the hospital without telling her where he was going or when he would be back. The door to his bedroom slowly opened, The creaking of the hinges seamed unnaturally loud in the darkness. His silhouette in the door frame brought her both relief and incredible anger. She didn't dare let out the breath she was holding or move any other muscle in her body, waiting to see what he would do, what he would say. Had he expected to find her here tonight? Did he even want her here? She watched him shed his clothes down to his boxers and then climb into the bed next to her. The smell of stale cigarettes and bourbon accosted her already sensitive nostrils. "Where have you been Mulder?" she whispered sternly. 'you could have answered your dam phone you insensitive piece of shit. Do you have any idea how worried I have been, do you have any idea how close I came to losing you today and everything I have in the process.' Those words stayed buried for later.

He waved a hand in the air non-committedly.

"Have you been drinking?" again whispering 'you shouldn't be drinking with the meds they gave you at the hospital, you could have fried your brain, you could have ended up in a ditch somewhere..' again she held those words for later.

He waved a finger and then two fingers in the air.

One or two, yeah right. She huffed pulling herself up into a sitting position, her back against the headboard, her head landing with a thud against the hard wood. She saw him again back at that building his hands were bloody his face was black with soot. In one hand he held Sarah Mobb's who was still dressed in a long white night gown, clearly completely sheltered from the blast. In the other he was half dragging, half carrying a barely conscious, barely put together Agent Tristan. She shook the memory from her head again drawing on the complete sense of relief she had felt in that moment to give her the strength to face him in this bed again. She felt him turn towards her and shuffle down into the bed. His nose landed along the elastic waist band of her underwear and warm breath brushed along her heated exposed skin. His hand drifted to her ankle, light fingers tracing the delicate bones on the inside of her leg. He moved them slowly over the curve of her calf, her knee then slowly tenderly along the inside of her thigh. His nose lifted the bottom of her bunch night shirt. The small space of exposed skin was quickly covered with his lips as his fingers slipped inside the leg of her bikini briefs. Her breath had quickened automatically, her body physically incapable of not responding to his touch when she had denied it for so long. She stilled his hand with her own before his fingertips found what they sort after.

"Mulder." She breathed out a subtle protest.

Having been denied entry his hand came to rest on her hip but his mouth travelled higher up her side. He was licking, tasting caressing the skin with his lips rather than kissing it. Her shirt was riding higher and higher her belly button was now exposed and he was pushing it higher with his nose and chin and lips. His hand went from her hip to her buttons pulling the top one from its little loop then making its way down to the next one. His wandering lips had now successfully raised her shirt to expose her entire belly and his skill-full fingers had managed to un-loop the top two buttons of her shirt and were making their way down to the third. She quickly slid lower in the bed halting his progress instantly and bringing him face to face with her. "Mulder you need to talk to me." She couldn't help it she was breathless as she tried to speak seriously to him.

"I don't want to talk Scully." His expression unsettled her, It didn't happen often but the intensity of his eyes on hers were scaring her. He was like a predator stalking its meal the trauma from the day had left him firing from his most primitive instincts – Hunt…..Stalk…Kill…..Feast….Mate. He had completed three of those five actions today, he was looking to her to fulfil the final two. His mouth went to her neck, nudging her chin up so he could lap at the full length of it. She let him, conflicted with wanting to comfort him, make him feel better but knowing this wasn't the right way to go about it.

"Mulder" She tried again. But he was ignoring her small protests he drew his leg between her knees parting her thighs as his hand drifted over her hip, up her side and landed on her breast. She didn't resist but she couldn't relax into him either. "Mulder this isn't going to help, you need to talk to me." Her voice was stern as well as slightly breathless. She wanted so badly to help him forget but knew that sex was just a temporary distraction and had no doubt he would only regret practically forcing her like he was once he was finished.

He moved his hand back down her side to her hip turning her forcefully so she was lying flush against him. His leg was still between hers, pushing her knees apart. His face was now buried in her chest above her breasts, mouth and teeth scrapping hungrily along her collarbones parting the top seams of her now unbuttoned pyjama top. His hips were grinding against whatever part of her they were up against as he moved frantically against her. She gripped his shoulders and pulled him against her in an embrace trying to still his movements "Mulder, stop."

"I don't want to talk to you Scully!"

She stiffened at the anger in his voice "Oh so what do you want to *do* to me then?" she matched his anger.

His movements stilled as if he suddenly realised he was forcing her to do something she didn't really want. He would never do that. He buried his face back into her chest, body limp with defeat. "I just want *you* Scully." He sounded like a scared child.

She shuffled back away from him taking his hand from her right breast where it had been mauling just a few moments ago and shifted it to just above her left, laying it flat across her heart. He looked up at her the intensity now gone from his eyes. "You have me." She whispered to him softly. Like a spark the anger ignited in him again and he pulled his hand away from her and rolled onto his back completely separating them. She placed her hand on his arm, "this would only make you forget for a short time." He didn't answer, she watched him set his jaw into a firm lock. His eyes unblinking, staring up at the roof. "Please Mulder talk to me."

He pulled his arm from her hand and sat on the edge of the bed. His head fell into his hands "you don't get it Scully, you can't fix it." He stood abruptly without looking back at her, the bed shifted on its springs making her bounce slightly as she watched him storm out of the bedroom and slam the door.

She sighed heavily, so he wanted to fight with her now. Fine let's do this. There have been words sitting impatiently on the edge of both of their tongues the last few months. If shooting a terrorist, watching your partner get torn to shreds by flying shrapnel and almost being blown up was what got this conversation started then so be it. The fire in her belly began to rise as she straightened her ruffled clothes and re-buttoned her pyjamas, even cleavage couldn't help her now. She stood and marched through the door after him. He was standing at the sink holding a glass under the faucet, trying to negotiate with the tap. "If you've got something to say to me Mulder just say it."

He violently jiggled the handle on the tap that wasn't co-operating with him "talking about this isn't going to fix it Scully."

"And what anaesthetising yourself and then pounding me into the mattress will? Why don't you try screaming at me again too."

He gave up on the tap and threw the glass into the sink sending tiny pieces of shattered glass up into the air. Scully jumped with the sound, she had had enough smashing glass for one day. He moved towards her quickly. She stood her ground arms folded sternly over her chest. He stormed passed her brushing his arm against hers, it felt like a cool breeze but wreaked of gail force winds. She looked over at the glass and contemplated getting a brush and pan then decided against it turning and following him into the lounge.

"You had nothing to say to me before I walked into that building Scully." He turned to face her leaning down so he could glare at her. She bowed her head away from his stare. "Did you!" he spat.

"I didn't mean…" she tried

"It was the right call to make Scully. Skinner needed to know, there is no way you could have entered that building today." He pointed a stern finger at his front door to illustrate his point. "Someone had to stand up and say something and you weren't exactly volunteering, you left me little choice what did you expect me to do? Huh? Huh?

She shook her head slightly afraid to face him directly.

"It was the right call Scully!"

Her eyes pleaded with his, she really did feel badly for how she had handled that conversation today. But she was also incredibly angry at how he was managing this. He wasn't going to let her get a word in.

"As if our lives hadn't become complicated enough," he looked down at her stomach moving to sit on the edge of his couch. "I had enough going on in my head walking into that building without worrying about you being angry at me for something that I needed to do. People died today Scully. I watched three people die today! That's on my head and you…." He didn't actually believe what he was saying but he wanted to hurt her. He was hurting so badly he needed her to hurt along with him.

"And I what?! Wait a minute are you blaming me Mulder? Are you saying it is my fault those men died?"

Silence….. He didn't even look up at her.

Her blood literally boiled through her veins. "I seem to recall it was my decision that lead to our guys finding the actual bomb and my decision to not evacuate at the time that allowed them to divert the timer long enough to get that building evacuated!" He remained on the edge of that couch, elbows resting on his knees hands clasped tightly, looking anywhere but up at her. "I was angry when you told Skinner, not because you told him, you were right he needed to know but I didn't need the rest of the F.B.I knowing Mulder. You have no idea what it feels like to be a single pregnant woman playing with the big boys. You literally cut me off at the knees in their eyes and I have trouble standing at peoples chins as it is."

Nothing….. not even breathing from Mulder.

"How dare you put that on me." She felt angry tears well up in her eyes, she refused to let them fall in front of him. "How dare you reduce my size even further by implying our little complication as you so delicately put it, is getting in the way of your precious thoughts. You say I can't fix it that talking won't help you but clearly you are holding onto something. Clearly you can't bring yourself to tell me something Mulder. You are right I can't help you." He finally moved. His head fell forward and his hands let go of their grip of each other. "I can't help you if you hold onto all of this resentment you seem to have of me! I can't help you if having a baby with me is complicating your life so much that you have lost the capacity to do your job!"

He put his face back into his hands, he was way too drunk to be having this conversation 'abandon ship abandon ship' his mind was screaming. He intended to hurt her not wound her terminally. "Scully…" he started.

"I have news for you Mulder, our lives became complicated the moment I stepped into your office, the second they assigned me to you!" She pointed to the ground to punctuate her own statement. "Of all the complicated things we have been through together. The running, the fighting, the death and loss don't make me falling in love with you the thing that breaks us. Don't make our baby the biggest complication of all. I don't know if I could ever forgive you for that." A single tear ran down her cheek.

"It's not about the baby Scully!" he stood to face her, his face had softened he was losing the ability to fight with her.

"Then what the hell is it! What won't you say to me!?"

He gripped her at the elbows and pulled her towards the couch. He sat down drawing her between his legs and held her there. From this angle she had the height advantage. She said he took her out at the knees now he was practically on his knees in front of her, his face buried in her stomach. "It's not your fault, they are dead. I didn't mean that Scully." She stood strong not pulling away but not welding to his touch and sighed closing her eyes. He was going to retract everything, he still wasn't going to tell her what was really bothering him. "I'm sorry Scully, I'm just angry at the whole shitty situation of today and I wanted to make you angry with me. I wanted someone to be angry with me for how badly things went down today."

She ran her hands through his hair and pressed his head against her abdomen. "It wasn't your fault."

"That Doctor had a family Scully, he was a highly respected physician and he shot him. He believed in his cause so much that he could look a pleading man in the eyes and snuff him from this existence with a single pull on the trigger." Scully's shoulders slumped as she pulled him closer; no one came out of seeing something like that without going a little crazy. "I saw myself in the eyes of that terrorist Scully."

She cupped his cheeks and pulled him away from her, tilting his head up to face her "what do you mean Mulder? You could never do what that man did."

"What does it take Scully? At what point does your beliefs, your truth drive you to madness. It could happen to any of us. When he pulled that trigger and killed that Doctor I wondered if that could be me one day."

Her face softened and the fight completely left her, "It wouldn't. What happened today was not your fault Mulder. You did everything you could, you saved many lives."

"What about Agent Tristan?"

She knelt down between his knees so they now stood at equal height, face to face, equals again. "He's going to be OK." She smiled at him and he smiled back resting his forehead against hers. He had thought he was dead, relief washed over him and every muscle in his tense body seemed to disappear along with the effects of the alcohol. They rocked their foreheads together with their hands resting at the back of each other's necks, like they had done so many times before.

After a few minutes she pulled away placing her hands to the top of her pyjamas releasing the first button slowly and moving down to the next.

"You don't have to do that Scully."

She continued to undo each button revealing more and more soft skin as she went. He salivated at the thought of running his mouth over the path her fingers were taking. "Scully, you don't have to…"

"I want to." Her top now hung loosely open. He had come to her earlier, needing her to comfort him, he needed a physical way to show he still loved her even though he was so angry at her. It was wrong then but now the anger was gone she needed to show him, she wanted to show him just how uncomplicated their lives really could be.

He woke the next morning to burning sunshine and the smell of toast and eggs cooking in his kitchen. It was 1pm he had taken over sleeping to a whole new level. He was alone that was the first thing that he noticed until he sat up and then he was forced to notice the bounding behind his eyes. He remembered why he hardly ever drank anymore. He could hear shuffling around in the kitchen and realised she hadn't left him. More to the point she appeared to be cooking for him. These were all good signs. Added to the fact, he was still naked, definitely all good signs. He pulled a pair of old sweat pants over his long legs and brushed a hand through his shaggy hair. His mouth felt like sandpaper and the taste was less than awful. He slapped his tongue around the inside of his cheeks as he wandered through to the bathroom to attempt to alleviate at least his over full bladder, maybe work on his breath a little. When he had finished he ventured into the kitchen. He took a quick scan of the room and realised there was no evidence of the glass he had smashed earlier that morning. His eyes fell on Scully, She was standing at his stove moving a wooden spatula he vaguely recognised as his own over a pan on one of the elements. . She was wearing a silky, oriental, kimono style robe he remembered her purchasing on one of their recent cases in china town but hadn't had the pleasure of seeing her in yet. It was midnight black, relatively plain except for a colourful embroidered butterfly that lay delicately over her left hip. It was supposed to be short, on most landing very high thigh, conveniently on her it landed mid-thigh making it appropriate cooking breakfast attire. Her hair was wet slicked back but curling untamed as it dried. Funny how he never got to see her hair do that until they had become intimate. He smiled at the sight of her, marvelled at how happy she made him and completely resented what he had said and done mere hours before. He tread lightly behind her so she wouldn't hear him coming then pressed up against her, bending his knees so he could duck his nose underneath her ear lobe. She didn't even flinch, not even a little bit.

"You can't sneak up on me Mulder, F.B.I. academy day one - beating the element of surprise."

"Good morning Scully." He whispered into her ear rocking her hips against his, then planted a kiss just below her ear lobe.

"Good afternoon Mulder." She scrunched her shoulder to her ear - that really tickled.

He kept his body tight against hers and his nose firmly in the crook of her neck and then snuck his hand under the bottom of the kimono running a thumb over a tight bare butt cheek, confirming his suspicions that she wasn't wearing anything underneath it. Without the slightest hesitation the wooden spatula that she held connected sharply with his wandering hand with a snap.

"OOW! What happened to beating the element of surprise?"

"Day two - defending yourself using the closest available object as a weapon."

He chuckled in her ear wrapping his arms firmly around her waist. He watched her stir for a few minutes then exhaled against her neck "Are we ok?"

She nodded subtly, she sure hoped so but felt like they had only scratched the surface. She stabbed a cooked section of her omelette with a fork and brought it to her lips blowing on it softly. She cupped one hand underneath to catch any falling egg and then fed it to him over her shoulder.

He slurped it off the fork. "Mmmm, how did you make that from the contents of my cupboards?" His words muffled through a mouthful.

"It wasn't easy."

She moved the spatula over the pan again, turning the uncooked portion of egg over and leaving the cooked portion on the edge of the pan so it didn't burn. The cheese was starting to turn into a stringy goo and the peppers and onions were coated with a golden brown. It would be ready very soon. He was holding onto her tightly, restricting her movements, chin tucked neatly in the space where her neck met her shoulder. She sensed he wanted to say more, she hoped he would. How did he think he could hide anything from her, she knew him inside and out. Which is why she knew not to push him, he would say it when he was ready.

"It could have been you." There was intense sadness in his whispering voice. Her spatula froze in the centre of the pan the cheese sizzled and popped like lightening crackling in the silent atmosphere around them. "I thought Tristan was dead. When I dragged him from that building bleeding, dying all I could think was it could have been you. I was relieved it was him and not you. What kind of a person does that make me?"

She carried on moving the omelette around the pan, it needed to be transferred to a plate soon or it would burn. He held her tight and she let him. There was no answer to that question, not one that would satisfy him anyway. She wondered if he wanted her reassurance or whether he was just voicing his fears. It could have been her, it could have been him and tomorrow they could walk into another building and meet another madman. There were many more bullets and bombs in their future that wasn't going to change despite how their lives were changing in spite of them. Not even she could protect him from that. She leant her head to the side so her cheek brushed his lips then kissed him over her shoulder. First one quick peck then she closed her eyes and moulded her mouth to his. The kiss lingered just long enough to be deep but ended before it fell into intent. It was a silent acknowledgement, they feared the same things but they had to learn to carry on anyway. When his lips released hers she ran her nose over his, "mmmm get some plates before I burn this." He smiled at her and then released her hips to grab two plates from his cupboard.

She watched him inhale his omelette while she nibbled away at hers, content in seeing him enjoy her cooking. When his plate was clear she swore he looked at it as though he would pick it up and lick it clean, instead he sat back and puffed his stomach out rubbing it contently. "mm that was good." He eyed her plate, "are you going to finish that?"

She pushed her plate towards him "knock yourself out." Eggs were still a hit and miss for her when it came to her easily unsettled stomach. She stood from the table and collected his discarded plate to take back into the kitchen. Her purse was sitting on the bench catching her eye as she rinsed the dishes under the running water. The ultrasound picture was still sitting inside it, the anxieties of the last 48 hours had temporarily left it sitting forgotten. Was this a good time to show him? She looked over at him again shovelling food into his mouth like it was some fine cuisine, not eggs and whatever she could identify as food from the bottom of his fridge. It was as good a time as any she supposed so she peeled through the pockets inside her bag to locate the small envelop. As she took the picture out she looked back to him finishing her meal and again rubbing his full belly. She slipped behind him bringing her elbows to rest on his shoulder so the picture was under his nose.

"What's this?' He leaned back against her shoulder to try and better focus his eyes.

"It's my ultrasound picture, from yesterday."

"Oh right." He took it from her fingers in both of his hands so he could look at it more closely. She returned to her seat opposite him at the table. Her eyes never left him as she moved so she could gauge his reaction, analyse his response. So far it was just blank starring, no smile, no frown, nothing. She didn't want to break his concentration, but she was desperate to hear what he had to say. Moments passed, seconds, minutes, what was he doing? She looked in turn at his face and the back of the picture. His glance caught hers over the small piece of photo paper, a crease forming between his brows. She tilted her chin questioningly then watched him rotate the picture first 90 and then a full 180 degrees, essentially turning it completely upside down.

She puffed out a breath rolling her eyes at the same time then snatched it from him. He obviously was having trouble making out the image. She moved to sit in the chair next to him pulling it closer so they were shoulder to shoulder. She sat the picture between them so both had an equal view. "Look this is the head," she traced a finger over the image, then looked at him to see if he was following, his stare was blank, he still couldn't see it. "Look that's his face, nose there, lips." She pointed to various points over the picture

"Ah ha." Mulder replied unconvincingly. "I'm sorry Scully it kind of looks like a satellite picture the gunmen showed me once. These here," he pointed to a group of dots. "They resemble Russian subs."

"Look!" She pointed harder as if that would make it clearer, her voice becoming more abrasive. "Here's a hand, his belly." She paused, he was looking closer with intense concentration over his face "A foot….." she tried outlining the tiny toes with the edge of her nail, still watching him expectantly.

"Wait I think I can see." He pulled it from her hand holding it a few centimetres under his nose. "There" he pointed "Gee Scully is that his….." She looked at what he was pointing at, huffing and rolling her eyes again she snatched it from his hand and marched back into the kitchen placing it back in the envelope then her bag "That's the umbilical cord Mulder." He stood from the table to join her. A silly smile spread across his face. He liked it when she was a little pissed at him, it felt good to be back at this easy banter again. "Are you sure Scully he could have inherited one of my more prominent features?" He placed a hand either side of her on the bench bracketing her in his arms as she wrestled with her bag. He felt her roll her eyes.

"Well the sonographer did mention he or she," she emphasized the 'she' to prove a point, "had an above average sized head."

"Hardy har Scully, let me look at it again." He went to reach into the bag.

"No" she snapped it shut.

"Come on I was just starting to get a good look." He reached for the bag again and she clutched it to her chest playfully.

"No you weren't."

"I was, Scully give it back to me." He teased back.

They struggled playfully over the bag. "No"

"Give it back."

"No I'm not going to give it to you Mulder you aren't taking me seriously." She tried to move away from him but the combination of her silky robe and his size had her at a definite disadvantage. Gripping her hips with his hands he easily lifted her up and perched her onto the bench nestling his hips between her thighs. "I hate that you can do that so easily." Her eyelids fluttered has his hands ran up under her robe.

"What?" His breath brushed the fine hairs along the shell of her ear.

She leant back as he leant further into her "Lift me so easily."

He huffed into her throat "come on we both know you could have me on the floor in three moves." His open mouth ran down her throat as he pushed her further and further down onto the bench. "Besides I'm just distracting you so I can do. This!" he snatched the bag and stepped back quickly, raising it high above his head.

She slid off the bench, "you're cute, now give it back."

He leaned his face down to hers keeping his arm high above his head, lowering his voice, eyes locked with hers he whispered firmly "no." she took advantage of his lowered stance and reached up jumping slightly, she rubbed up against him accidently in the process, her silky robe getting dangerously loose. He pulled up just in time successfully evading her attempt "oooh do that again Scully." He teased stepping away slightly.

"I'm warning you Mulder give me the bag." She followed in his retreat watching him shake his head defiantly at her. "I warned you…"

His brain registered to his mouth 'laugh at her' but before the message reached its destination she had him flat on his back, on the floor, purse back safely in her hand.

That laugh came out as a long mixture of laughing and 'owing' after his head connected painfully with the floor. He rubbed the egg forming on his bruised ego and carefully opened his eyes to see if the room was spinning. She was standing over him tightening the ties of her robe smirking down at him. "I believe that was two moves Mulder." Raising an eyebrow she left him to tidy himself up.

He laughed as he watched her retreat from the kitchen. Yip things were back to normal. "Scully." He called faking pain in his tone. "Don't leave me down here…" "Scully?" "I may have a concussion…." "Scully."

END PART ONE

To be continued in XPecting: 25 weeks  
>I promise there will be a baby at the end of this :)<p> 


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